Tolerated
by milestailsandco
Summary: Adachi's alone and bored and finally someone is here that he doesn't have to throw into the TV.
1. Hot Coffee

It was another evening he was stuck with the night shift at the police station, except this time he was alone. Normally, there are at least two people scheduled at night with the other high-priority officers on call but tonight the other guy had asked if he would be okay by himself and something about a family emergency or whatever. He didn't really care. In fact, he was pretty happy knowing he could slack off and not get stuck doing anyone's bitch work and no one would be able to report him the next morning.

He debated just sitting outside or going for a walk, but that idea was quickly abandoned when it began to pour out of nowhere. He shrugged and considered digging through Dojima's desk to disorganize his papers, but also threw that idea out when he realized he would have to deal with his wrath when he discovered it. He really wasn't that surprised that he was bored alone on a Wednesday night stuck in the police station- as if anything would have changed from when he was transferred to this shit hole of a town doing tasks that middle schoolers would be able to do. Upon this realization, he sighed and turned to head towards the police chief's desk to see what havoc he could wreak over in his office.

"Ex-kee-oose me," a smallish voice burped from behind him.

He slowly turned around and was met with the face of a young girl that has probably had too much to drink and came waltzing in the station with no umbrella. She had dishwater blonde hair that was pulled into two high pigtails that, he assumed, swirled before the rainwater had drowned out the definition. Her eyes were green, he thought, though it was hard to see because she kept blinking while looking up at him. Her red and black school uniform was almost pasted onto her with wetness and it appeared the only thing on her not soaking was the little red cloth choker with a bow on the side. "Sorry, we're closed," he responded slyly. Dealing with a drunken underage girl was even less desirable than listening to Dojima complain about his messy drawers for the whole 8 hour shift.

She giggled and scooted closer to him, poking his chest. "Cammaaaaaaaan, police don't close and go night night," she whispered as she finished the sentence. "Who even ARE you anyway."

He glanced down as he felt patters on the top of his shoes, cringing with annoyance when he noticed that she was dripping all over his work clothes. Great. "I'm Detective Tohru Adachi," he muttered, "and unless you have a crime to report I'd appreciate it if you would leave."

Her eyes began to water. "I…," she began, sobbing, "I thought police stations were supposed to be… safe spaces…". The strange girl sniffled twice before throwing her hands in her face and bawling loudly.

Adachi grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently. "Okay fine! Stop crying! You can stay here at least until morning if you stop crying!"

Adachi entered the interrogation room carrying a cup with steam coming off of the top. He closed the door behind him and sat at the table across from the puffy-eyed girl, reaching his arm out and setting down the coffee in front of her. "I brought you some coffee to hopefully help your hangover attitude." Alone in his police station in the boonies with a crying drunk girl. This was one of the weirdest nights he's had in a while.

She sniffled again and took the cup, taking a quick sip out of it and coughing as she swallowed due to the heat. "Thanks, but I'm not drunk. I'm just…" she trailed off and looked down into the cup, swirling it around.

"What is your name and how old are you? And don't bother lying. I don't really care if you're underage because I don't feel like filing any police reports or having to book you tomorrow."

She continued to swirl the cup beneath her, a dorky immature smile growing on her face. "My name is Maria and I'm 15."

"Jesus, you're only 15?!" Adachi responded. "You really need to be more careful if you're going to do stupid shit like get drunk and then walk around in public and end up in a police station! We get so bored here some of us are close to committing crimes just so it gives us something to do! You're lucky I was here tonight and not like the chief or my partner."

"Well I am soooooooo thankful you're here to save me Mister Tadashi," she giggled, deepening her voice a little to make herself sound tempting. Her efforts were lost when she hiccupped.

"It's Ah-DAH-Chi"

She laughed and looked up at him, smirking. "Whatever. Man, Tohru is such a… blah… name. But I don't get why. You should have a manlier name for such a handsome man." Maria pushed her leg out in front of her and put it in between Adachi's legs as he sat.

Adachi jumped and looked back to Maria, confused by this sudden outburst of extroversion. Perhaps the warmth of the station and the coffee had brought her out of her fearful and shivering shell. She slid her chair back and stood up, leaning onto the table and slamming her hands on it. The cup wiggled beneath her hands. "It's just you and I here tonight?" She bit her bottom lip. Adachi's eyes grew big and his eyes jumped down to her shirt and then up again to her eyes. It was then that he actually saw how attractive she was without all of the rain dragging down on her… which meant this was going to become a problem in about ten seconds. She removed her hands from the table and began to walk over to Adachi, dragging one of her fingers along it as she moved, swinging her hips dramatically. When she ended up next to Adachi, she pulled his chair out and rolled it to face her, leaning her hand on the back of the chair next to his face.

She leaned in close to him, enough for him to smell the perfume she had on. Floral. His favorite. Nothing musky like the old women wear but nothing too fruity like a child. When Maria was this close, he could understand why she chose a more-mature scent than her peers did probably. Her skin was flawless and, as far as he knew, foundationless. She had some brown eyeshadow on, but nothing over the top or too slutty for someone her age. Her eyeliner was just enough to flatter her face without, once again, making her look like she was trying too hard to get into a club. Her lips had a colorless gloss on them, making them look serious and yet perky. Her pretty little head sat on a mature neck with that choker that he found himself staring at. Her shoulders were perfectly shaped- not scrawny and not broad- and her breasts appeared perky and full, even if they weren't anything huge. Her waist was perfectly pinched. He was looking at a professional temptress, it seemed. Adachi cleared his throat as he met her eyes again, this time wiping the smug child detective look and replacing it with his true bored asshole persona. "Alright I'm going to be honest with you. I don't like to be led on or joked around with. So you should probably go home before you push me."

She grabbed his tie and pulled herself into him, about to plant her lips on his when she was, instead, met with his hand. "Sorry princess," he muttered, "I don't do kissing." When she blinked and stared at him with confusion splattered all over her face, he leaned forwards and put his hand behind her head, burying his face in her neck and his hand in her hair. As he slowly stood up and turned to lean her against the table, he used his other hand to cup her breast while nipping at her flesh.

Finally this night was taking a good turn and it would end perfectly if his coworker didn't come back for the night, or at least waited until he was finished with this girl, and then she went home and never brought this up again. It was his reward, he figured, for dealing with this bullshit for so long. For dealing with shitty whores for women and lazy idiots for men. This was his treat for dealing with the morons at the old police station that transferred him and for dealing with the boonies and the boring personalities of the people in this hick town. And the fact that she wasn't resisting meant he didn't have to throw her into the TV which meant tomorrow he wouldn't have to be stuck outside dealing with everyone wondering how another body ended up on a telephone pole. Perfect. It was supposed to rain tomorrow anyway.

Maria pulled her own neck away from his and used that opportunity to lean into his neck, sucking on his ear and slowly removing his tie. He grunted at the first suckle and leaned down to smack her butt. She yelped and his lips curled into a devilish smile. With this newfound confidence, he lifted her up onto the table. "Go over there and get on your hands and knees," he said, pointing to the middle of the table as he reached down to fumble with his belt. "And be careful for that cup of coffee you abandoned."

"What?" Maria pouted. "Aren't you going to get me naked first?"

"Normally, yes, however, there's a possibility the other person scheduled for the night will walk in here and we would need to cover up fast. I don't want to lose my job."

"Yes sir," she grumbled and followed his orders. Not being able to kiss and fill the awkward void was killing it for her, she would have admitted. But it was probably the most fun she's had in a while. She was amazed at how a young attractive man like him could have been thrown into a job like police work. What a waste of a male. Then again, maybe it was because he was stuck in this job that he wasn't married and therefore able to be here with her tonight… not that that would stop either of them.

Adachi pulled up behind Maria and pulled down her underwear before unbuttoning his own pants and undoing the zipper, pulling out his member. Although it was unfortunate he wouldn't be able to see this beauty completely naked beneath him, he kind of had a slight kink for schoolgirl uniforms. And he would go to the grave with that secret. He grabbed her waist with one hand and directed himself with the other until he was inside. A big smile grew across his face at the unbelievable luck he had tonight. He continued to pump in and out of her, moaning quietly and shushing her when she would yell too loud. He had completely forgotten how it felt to be enveloped in a woman- especially a woman that he didn't have to pay. Another secret that would go to the grave with him.

"I- I'm almost there," he moaned.

"Well don't do it inside of me!" she whispered in fear. A second passed when he didn't move and she pulled herself off of him and turned around.

"What are you doing?!" he said as he was left hanging.

She got back on her knees, this time facing him, and grabbed his dick, jerking him off the rest of the way. When he threw back his head, she leaned hers down and let him release all over her face.

When he lifted his head back, his eyes were droopy and his head was spinning. "Holy shit that was…" he was interrupted when he saw where she ended up letting it land. He blinked. "Holy shit you're amazing…" he panted and ran his hand through his hair, "no one's ever done that with me."

"I don't know why I did that," Maria said with her eyes closed. "Can you help me out?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure one sec." Just as Adachi tucked himself back in, a vibrating came from his pocket. "Hang on I have to answer this." He reached in his pocket and took out his phone, pulling it to his ear. He cleared his throat to rid his voice of any nerves or post-sex drowsy voice. "Hello? … Wait you're coming back!? ….. No it's not a problem at all! How long do you think? … Yeah sure see you then." The phone smacked as he closed it. "Okay you've got five minutes before my coworker is here and if you're not out of here by then he's going to wonder what the fuck is going on."

"Okay well I still can't see anything," Maria responded, panicked. Suddenly she felt something smack her face. When she reached up, she grabbed what appeared to be a tie and began to wipe the mess from her face with it. "A tie?" she asked when she finally opened her eyes again to be met with Adachi scrambling around the room and putting the chairs back where they were.

"Yeah don't worry about it I got it from some guy that I hate. You can keep it."

"Aww, thanks," Maria chirped, sounding a little bit tipsy again. "Is like kind of like someone leaving their clothes behind at the other's house so they have a reason to come back?" She was met with no response.

Adachi took a deep breath when the room was arranged back and lifted Maria off of the table, standing her up on the floor. He looked down into her eyes and brushed her hair back away from her face. "There's an umbrella by the door on the way out. Use it and go home. And um…" Adachi put his hand behind his head, embarrassed. "It would probably be best not to tell anyone about this. E…especially your parents."

"Thank you…" Maria responded, genuinely pleased. "And of course I won't tell. Wow I'm so glad my first time got to be with someone like you, sir!"

"Yeah sure sure." Adachi rolled his eyes, not believing this was her first time but figured she was too drunk to remember. "Now hurry up!" he scolded, opening the door and smacking her butt as she left the room. "And lay off the alcohol kid, you've got enough time for that when you're an adult!"

A minute after he watched Maria walk out of the station doors, his coworker walked through them, happily placing down his wet rain gear and heading towards his desk. "Hey Tohru guess what!"

"Your wife burned down the house," he responded, totally uninterested and staring down at his papers, flicking his pen on the desk. The paperwork seemed exceptionally boring after the wild night.

"Nah man, she called me over to the house to greet me wearing NOTHING!"

"Oh man that's great," Adachi leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, attempting to look like he gave a shit. "I'm surprised you bothered coming back!" His mind travelled back to only fifteen minutes ago. He would have loved to keep her there all night and maybe go for a couple more rounds. The thought of this made his pants feel tight and he calmly reached down to adjust. It was then when he realized something felt off.

He tapped his left pocket and felt his phone. That wasn't amiss. He tapped his right pocket and felt… "You've gotta be shitting me," he exclaimed a little louder than he should have. Frustration poured out of his voice.

"Uh… Tohru?"

"Oh what ignore me sorry I'm just…" Adachi felt around in his pockets one last time. "Excuse me for a minute."

He leaped out of his desk and ran back to the interrogation room. He opened the door and looked around, feeling his pocket one last time. The girl's face flickered through his mind. Her smile, her collar, her ability to go from drunk to just slightly off… and then it hit him. "…That absolute bitch. I knew women couldn't be trusted."

Maria sat down in her cot and pulled out her new toy- a beat up grey wallet. A smile crept along her face. "Dumbass."


	2. Cold Cuffs

"Excuse me, sir. Do you work here?" She knew the answer was yes. She knew he was the manager's son. She knew he wasn't born in this city, but only moved here a couple of months ago after the construction of this big supercenter that would cause the family-owned stores around the area to suffer financial hardship. She knew, despite the fighting and the gossip, that there was a girl who had worked at the big store *and* her family's liquor store. She knew that this boy was infatuated with that girl. And it is because of his infatuation with her that she chose to wear her hair down today after braiding it with the help of the rainwater and a little night's rest. Today, she wore less makeup in an attempt to look less try-hard and more mature. And when she approached him, she did so with humble confidence- something to appear friendly, but not weak.

He put down the electronics box he was holding and turned around to face her. "I do, indeed," he chirped as he beamed. When he finally got a look at her, his smile dropped a bit in exchange for his eyes lighting up. He was interested. Perfect. "Can I help you find anything?" He held his hands behind his back and smiled again, staring into her eyes.

She nodded and smiled back. "Yes," she began, "I'm sorry to bother you but do you mind telling me where the swimsuits are this time of year?"

"Of course! They're actually right past the women's clothing down in the far left of the store. If you take a right at the end, you'll be able to see a couple. Just follow that path down and you'll eventually reach the section." The young male pointed down exactly where she needed to go. "Can I help you find anything else?"

The girl shifted herself so she could cross her arms and have her purse still dangling off of her wrist. "I don't need help finding anything else but um… I was just wondering how much the employee discount is here?" The boy tilted his head in confusion, an unspoken gesture to continue. "See, I was looking for a job and there's a couple places that are hiring but have pretty mediocre discounts so I was just wondering what yours is. For competitive reasons of course."

The boy brought his hands up and crossed them in front of himself as well. "Well, we normally don't discuss this with average customers… but since you're cute I'll tell you. We get a 30% discount on items and a 40% discount on edible things. It's pretty good compared to all of the other places around here. Or so I've heard." Now that he confessed his attraction, his attention was completely on her. He started to lean on the stack of TVs next to him and his dorky grin had been exchanged for a sly, sexy smirk. Pity he was so young. "How about this. How about you give me your number and I'll give you my discount today. Since you're interested in applying here anyway."

She smirked back. "Well that sounds like a deal I won't be able to pass up! But only if you won't get in tro-"

She paused. Out of her peripherals, she noticed a skinny man dressed in a black suit standing a while away. She took a deep breath and glanced at the figure, letting her eyes focus on the detective from the night before. "Oh shit," she muttered.

The boy cocked his head again. "I'm sorry?"

The girl looked back to the boy standing there in his broken confidence and reached out to pat his shoulder. "Thank you for your time but I have to go. Like right now. I'll see you around, kiddo." She glanced again at the police officer, who started to walk towards her slowly, and ran off into the aisles.

She bolted through aisles 6 and 5, weaving herself between the large numbers of customers and ducking down every time she had gotten held up. Running into aisle 3, she almost crashed into the big pyramid of tin cans with soup smack in the middle of it. As she exited the aisle, she heard the crashing of the cans come from behind her, presumably from the klutzy detective attempting to chase her down. As she cleared aisle 2, the quietest one in the whole store, she calmly walked into the elevator and hit the 'door close' button.

When the door pinged and opened, she speed-walked straight out of the building and took a sharp right heading towards the alley behind the store. If there was any place she had a huge advantage ahead of the detective, it was the streets. His shouts of "STOP!" had returned, but could only be faintly heard as the distance between the two widened when she continued to run through alleys and shortcuts. Out of breath, she hit the corner of an empty alley and leaned facing towards the cement of the apartment building that created the space. The bricks felt cool on her now-sweaty face and she panted and frowned. Despite getting away from someone who could take away the very freedom she had been fighting for, her mission to the best chance of eating big were snatched away from her because of her carelessness. She closed her eyes, pondering what move she would make next. Inaba was very small, making it difficult for her to think of anywhere for her to hide that wouldn't be a risk of police or civilian interference. Perhaps she could dye her hair and wear sunglasses to change from her current appearance. Maybe she could chop off all of her hair.

"Good evening, ma'am," the sly, familiar voice slithered from behind her shoulder. "Fancy meeting you here on this beautiful day." The girls' eyes shot open and just as she was about to book it, he grasped her wrist and slapped a handcuff on it, pushing himself into her. "Did you really think you could outsmart me?" he asked the side of her face.

Through gritted teeth, she grunted and stifled out a pained laugh. "I managed to do it once, didn't I?"

He grabbed the other hand leaning on the wall and pulled it behind her back, locking it with the other handcuff. "It doesn't matter. I still found you." He pulled her away from the wall and led her towards his police car.

"If you don't take this shit off of me right now and let me go, I'll scream and make a scene." Worry dripped in her words as her confidence drifted away.

"Go ahead," he urged sarcastically. "Make a scene and draw attention to yourself all you want. Make sure everyone in this city knows your name and can recognize you as that screaming girl in the streets getting arrested by a police officer. Honestly, I thought you were brighter than that. To everyone, you are just a nonsensical criminal."

Adachi opened the back door and helped her into the seat, buckling her seatbelt and closing the door with a smug grin slathered on his face. As he approached the drivers' side, he saw her muttering swear words and staring down at her lap. He assumed she was just attempting to plot another get away and laughed to himself before opening his door and getting in.

They sat in complete silence, Adachi looking in the mirror occasionally to remind himself of what a good job he had done today.

"Why did we just pass the police station?" she questioned quietly and hesitantly, almost sounding as if she was afraid of the answer.

Adachi looked in the mirror once more and smiled at her worried expression, then turning to focus his eyes on the road. "Why would I lock you up and take away all of my fun?"

"Fun?" she muttered to herself.

He laughed gently, arrogantly. "Here's the thing. Ever since I came to this shit hole of a town, I've done nothing but bitch work. No excitement, no drama, no nothing. Those two murders were the first exciting thing to happen since I've been here. But even with the murders I'm not a valuable resource to them so they push me aside and prioritize other people." He lifted his right hand and held his palm upwards. "I was the top of my class all through school. Nothing is a challenge."

Fed up with his rambling, she interrupted with annoyance. "Okay, are you using me to practice for a job application or something because I don't understand."

Adachi took his upturned hand and pulled it into a fist, pounding it on his dash. Through gritted teeth, he barked "You know what? You better start watching your mouth because you're going to end up lipping off to the wrong person one day and get yourself killed."

"You know I appreciate your concern and everything but I've made it fine so far without your help."

He chuckled lightly and looked in the mirror, meeting her eyes. "And yet, here you are. Helpless in the back of my car."

* * *

Adachi pulled in his chair across from the girl at a small table. Despite her hands being comfortably placed in front of her, she continued to stare at Adachi while he sat himself- hoping to give an air of domination and control. He hadn't killed her yet and he had even given her the freedom of removing her handcuffs, so she decided to bite on to what he was offering- lunch and a conversation.

"Alright kiddo," he pushed himself forward so he was hugging the table and put his arms down to parallel hers. "A little bit of advice first and foremost. That guy that you were just trying to get your creepy paws on at Junes? Don't waste your time with him. He goes after older girls and he was into that one of the chicks that ended up dead. You aren't gonna get anything out of him other than tears."

An older lady dressed in a white skirt, top, and apron stopped by the table, dropping off two glasses of water. "Someone will be with you shortly to take your order." Getting no response and sensing the tension of two powerful forces colliding, she cleared her throat and hurried off.

"Oh, Mister Detective." A smile grew on her face. "He is far too young for me. Despite him probably being quite wealthy and very cute, the youngest I'll go is two years younger than myself."

Adachi's confidence faded when he turned his head in confusion. "I think he's 16? He's older than you."

The girl blinked twice, registering what he said, and then smirked. "How old did I tell you I was again?"

"Fifteen…" he muttered warily, narrowing his eyes.

She reached out to grab her water and lifted it so the straw floating around in it could reach her mouth. "Oh yes. Well, I'm 21."

"Aren't girls supposed to lie about being older than they actually are?"

"Maybe, but most girls don't need blackmail material as insurance."

Silence erupted between the two as they stared intensely at each other again. Adachi had his brows somewhat furrowed and his mouth hung a little bit open, his tongue visible only through his very slightly parted teeth. In this moment of silence he attempted to read her through body language or recognize any indication of fear, personalities, or lies but came up empty handed. Her poker face was just as good as his.

The thought of another person breaking ruining his perfected identification system used to manipulate everyone made him uncomfortable, to say the least. If she could mask herself from him so easily, something no one has been able to do, does that mean she was just like him? Was she better than him? Would she become a problem in his current plans and mission in Inaba?

Adachi was so intrigued by his attempt to pick apart this woman that when the waitress came and she ordered for him, he didn't try to stop her. He'd let her have the victory of feeling like she had control over the situation and see where it led.

And when he was not met with a smirk or any sort of gratification showing in her eyes, he decided to carry on the conversation.

"So what's your real name then?"

"Why does it matter? You can't find me in your police index system thingy anyway."

"All the more reason for you to tell me. Because it doesn't matter."

She looked to the side. For some reason, she felt like she could trust him with a couple of personal bits of information. He was a police officer after all, but nothing too stuck up or goody-goody as just a couple of days ago he had her on top of the interrogation room's table and now he had uncuffed a thief. If he wanted to do something, he would have done it by now. "Sophie," she muttered. "My name is Sophie. Sophie Hawthorne."

"Hawthorne? That's not a name that's common around here. Where are you from?"

"I had Japanese-American dual-citizenship with my parents. My mom was from Iwatodai and my father was from Nevada. They met in college in Tokyo and returned to America to live out their lives. We moved back here because my mom wanted to be with her family."

Adachi shifted in his seat, choosing instead to lean back in his chair and cross his arms across his chest as he pondered his next question. As he opened his mouth to inquire about something, the waitress stopped by and dropped off the sushi platter, something Adachi thought was shockingly generic for such a bold woman before realizing it was probably an intentional way for her to not give away too much of herself- you are what you eat, as they say.

Sophie put a piece of kappa maki in her mouth and closed her eyes in bliss, savoring the sweet, fresh taste of cucumber on her tongue. It had been a long time since she'd eaten with company and even though this company was almost holding her hostage, she appreciated not feeling so alone for once.

"So," she mumbled with her mouth full, "now I get to ask you a question."

Adachi nodded, eating a piece of ebi nigiri that he just plucked off of the platter.

"Are you a good cop or a bad cop?"

He exhaled sharply, amused at the question. "I don't think that's a question I can answer."

Sophie looked into the air deep as she deciphered his answer. He definitely wasn't a good cop because if he was he would have answered with a stereotypical 'I try to be as good as I can' quote. He couldn't be a bad cop because he would have tried to convince her he was good. Good cops follow the rules and can come off as boring and lackluster. Bad cops break the rules and take advantage of their positions to do bad or immoral things.

"I see."

* * *

"Hey Adachi, you got something sent in the mail to you! I went ahead and put it in your locker for ya!"

Adachi rolled his eyes at how perky and annoying the little bugger at the front desk could be. Every day he walked into the station he was there with his big bug eyes staring him down with the geekiest smile and he always talked down to him like he was a dumb officer just thrown in the bottom tiers because he couldn't do anything useful. It made Adachi sick.

As he headed to his locker, he ran through his day in his head. He chased down Maria whose real name is Sophie and talked to her at lunch. She ended up paying, as he had nothing to pay with, and he dropped her off at the end of an abandoned road where she requested. He was sad to see her go as it was the most… pleasant, if you could say that, time he's had with a person in years. Even through his questioning he couldn't tell what kind of person she was or what her intentions were or even if she was telling the truth at all. All he knew was that he wanted to see her again.

The package was addressed to him without a return address. As he opened it up, he prayed that whoever took in packages sent them through the metal detector. He shook out the paper package and out plopped his missing wallet. He smiled and opened it up. His face fell, however, when he was met with none of his cash in the big pocket and a missing debit card. He sighed, knowing he shouldn't have expected any different.

This girl was beating him at his own game and every time she one-upped him, whether it be in one-liners or actions, he became more and more intrigued.


	3. Little Pink Drink

Adachi sat at the far left end of the bar, mindlessly poking at his chicken karaage as he waited for another beer to be served to him. It was the second night in a row that his partner, Detective Ryotaru Dojima, had stayed later than scheduled to work on his personal project: the investigation involving the death of his wife in a hit and run. Normally, Adachi enjoyed the comfort of silently drinking at the pub, seeing as Dojima sometimes got a little... "playfully" aggressive when intoxicated, but today just seemed as if the day would not end. From new leads that fell flat to stacks of paperwork, he hoped that Dojima's drunken stupors would at least lead to an entertaining night, but instead he sat in his spot hoping that he could actually get drunk enough to crash asleep as soon as he got home rather than just staying awake to be taunted by his thoughts.

When the young host topped off his glass, Adachi muttered a quick "thanks" and reached out to grab the cup, taking it to his mouth. As he gulped down the first of the cheap liquid, a familiar laughter had sent a shiver through his spine and knocked the wind out of him, resulting in a cough as he swallowed his liquor. A quick glance to the right enlightened him of the oh-so-familiar sound: the young thief sitting only a few seats away from him surrounded by a couple of men of an apparent wide age-range. The oldest one had lifted his arm to take a peek at his watch before placing down his cup, reaching in his pocket, and pulling out a wad of cash. He carefully wiggled out a few bills and slid them right next to the cup. Adachi couldn't hear exactly what he was saying, as the room was loud with chatter, but he assumed by the man nodding at Sophie and putting his hand on her shoulder that he was summoned home by his rightfully concerned wife's curfew. The second oldest one had touched his pocket and pulled out his phone, running out without an affectionate goodbye like with the first man. This one was also probably about to get a very vocal scolding from his significant other.

Adachi approached Sophie, whose back was turned to him, and the youngest out of the three men circling her at the time. Before Adachi got the chance to interrupt the conversation with a passive-aggressive 'ahem', the young man had gestured to him and stated, "Looks like you've got another fan." Frustration was dripping in his voice, probably from having to compete for attention for the whole night with two older, and presumably wealthier, men. Adachi shrugged it off. He had no reason to rival with fresh-out-of-college entitled children that have never seriously worked a day in their lives.

Sophie spun around to face her newest visitor and smiled. "Adachi!" she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. "I didn't know you came here! I mean... I didn't think I'd see you here."

"Do you know this guy?" The insecure man spoke from behind her, leaning far into the counter so he could look past her head into Adachi's eyes in an attempt to scare him away. His scrawny hands had balled up into a fist and Adachi could have sworn he saw a couple drops of sweat fall from his hair onto the shoulder of his newly-pressed suit. It was a pathetic and enjoyable sight.

Sophie, without turning back around, spoke clearly and with authority. The smile on her face had fallen into a scowl but her eyes still glowed with excitement. "Yes, I know him," she scoffed. "How about you go take a walk and let him and I talk. You can come find me in a few minutes." Her attention was visibly fixed on the slightly buzzed detective in front of her and any protesting that he did would just paint him out to look more childish than he already was, which would result in her going home with the police officer instead of him. As this revelation hit him, he grunted and turned around to leave, making sure to shoot the police officer one last glare before he left.

Adachi nodded once the young boy had left their sight. "Very impressive, missy. You had that poor boy wrapped around your finger." He took a seat in the stool to the left of her, checking her out quickly as to not give himself away. Today she went with a higher-end appearance: her hair was straightened and complimented with a dark blue bulky headband to match her dark blue low-cut circle top and her white jeans. Her eye makeup was precise and she wore the slightest amount of lip-gloss so that it made her whole face glow when the light hit it a certain way, but not so much that it would put off anyone from the thought of kissing her. She knew her audience and she played the part well.

She smiled and turned forward, grabbing her bright pink drink, "I always have them wrapped around my finger" she said with confidence. "Even when they pretend to be big strong policemen." She took a sip of her drink while maintaining eye contact in an attempt to get a reaction out of the cop with the crooked tie. When he gently smirked back at her, she exhaled and placed her drink back down. "So what are you doing here all alone? It looks pretty pathetic if you ask me." He wondered if her playful small-talk worked on anyone else or if it was just him. Some weaker men could consider her lingo threatening, but he read it as charming and friendly: a sort of inside joke between two people with questionable morals.

Adachi snorted. "You would think that. Usually I come here with my boss, but he ended up staying late tonight and I just thought I'd come over here for a while and get a load off." He stretched and smiled, receiving a smile in return. "What about you? I doubt any of those guys caging you in were your dates tonight."

Sophie playfully scoffed at the detective's deduction. "I'm always alone. I prefer it that way. The only time I'm not alone is where there's a job to be done." There was no hint of regret or sadness in her voice. He found her unwavering confidence appealing.

"Isn't it at least dangerous to be alone with these... guys you barely know? You get a little tipsy here and go home with tipsy guys, you open your legs for them and trust them not to hurt you? Isn't that unsafe?" His voice cracked at the end, almost as if he was genuinely worried for her. He pounded his chest twice and forced out a pathetic burp of air to cover his tracks.

She laughed gently. "I don't drink. I'm never even a little bit intoxicated... my friend, the bartender, makes sure of that. If I were to ever get a little bit, let's say, under the weather? His grandma, the bar owner, finds out he's been stealing money from the registers and hooking up with girls at closing time. The one job he's been able to have due to his mild criminal record would be lost." She winked at the host from across the bar and he looked down at the counter below him, scrubbing at it like he wasn't paying attention to her. "As for the men... I don't actually sleep with them."

"What?" He asked with interest fully peaked. This had to be part of a fantastic diabolical plan that was about to get juicier.

"In actuality, I..." Sophie trailed off as her eyes drifted from Adachi to the silver-haired boy approaching the counter behind him.

Confused and thrown off by the sudden silence, he turned around and was greeted by the nephew of his boss. As he opened his mouth to ask him why he was at a bar when he was very clearly underage, the boy took out a fish and handed it to the bartender. The bartender headed over to the glowing tank with the eel and dropped it in the tank. The eel spun around excitedly before eating the fish and spitting out a... jewel? The bartender reached in, grabbed the jewel, and gave it to the boy. The boy nodded at him again and turned around and left. Adachi blinked a couple of times, processing what the hell had just occurred, before turning back around and seeing a star-struck Sophie. A surge of mild jealousy and annoyance ran through his veins for a split second before calming down when he reminded himself of his situation, her situation, and the fact that he was in fact only sixteen.

Sophie blinked a couple of times and caught herself smiling, lowering her smile and looking back to the slightly-more-than-usual disheveled cop. "Well um. I guess that relates to what I was saying. I don't sleep with those I plan on stealing from." When Adachi raised his eyebrow at her, silently suggesting a reminder of their first encounter, she smiled and clarified, "Usually. They usually aren't my type and I usually don't have to. If I look drunk, they let down their guard and also get a little drunk. Then I make sure they get a lot drunk. We get a call for a cab, he takes me to his place, he's too wasted to stay awake, I ransack the house for loose money, which almost all of them have by the way," she laughed at herself as she remembered finding this out, "then I leave a "precious" pair of panties behind so they think they got lucky but can't remember it and I get lucky with enough money to last me a week or so."

Adachi's jaw hung slightly open at this girl's ability to weave her way in and out of vulnerable men's lives so easily in the span of a night. "And that works?" he asked in shock.

She smiled. "Every time."

"What about me, then?" he inquired. "Why did you change the pattern and go after me?"

Sophie blushed and turned to face the counter again, glancing down at it. "Honestly, I was running away from some bad people that night. I didn't intend to steal anything or um... do anything I guess. I was just looking for a safe place and I figured a police station would be the perfect place. You know, to hold a secret criminal and everything." Sarcasm coated her last few words and Adachi caught the first hint of a lack of confidence in her since he's known her.

Adachi scrunched his face in thought, attempting to put the pieces together. He was becoming very annoyed by his inability to figure out the plan from A to B and having to ask so many questions- why he even bothered becoming a detective if he couldn't figure this stuff out- but after seeing her mood swing from defensive and fearful to confident and overpowering in a matter of seconds, seeing her appeal to different men every time she left the house, he knew she was full of so much more complexity and was so much more different than any idiot criminal or know-it-all officer he'd ever seen. "Then why didn't you just ask for help?"

Her stern face had grown to a smile and she still kept her eyes down. "Because the police ask too many questions. If I looked like a drunk vulnerable girl, I had hoped someone would be willing to help without getting involved." Silence erupted between the two for a few seconds. "And because there's something about you that peaked my interest. You always look like a college student that rolled out of bed and doesn't even know what class he's going to next. But I see that it's just an image. I saw it in your eyes the second I looked at you. You are far from an idiot, Adachi."

"Tohru." Sophie glanced up from the table at him to catch a glimpse of his fading blush after he spoke. "If I see you again, call me Tohru."

* * *

"Moto-kun?" Sophie asked between kisses. She felt him smile on her mouth, pulling his coat off of himself and pushing her deeper into the couch.

"Yes, Tsuki-chan?" She stifled her laughter when she heard him say it out loud. The first name that came to her mind when he asked what her name was? Usagi Tsukino. And he was either drunk enough or dumb enough to fall for it.

She used the hands that she had placed on his chest to push upwards and lift him off of her so she knew he would be paying attention. "Do you mind if I just... run into the bathroom and freshen up a bit?"

His eyes grew wide and he smiled a cheesy, immature smile. "O-oh yes! Absolutely!" He quickly rushed to sit up and helped her up from her laying position. She smiled back at him and headed towards the bathroom, swaying her hips in an almost hypnotic rhythm.

Sophie reached in her bra and pulled out the small vial of chloroform she had nestled between her breasts. She scanned the bathroom quickly and grabbed a loose hand towel laying by the sink. She dumped out the vial over the cloth and glanced at herself in the mirror. This wasn't who she wanted to be: a thief. She didn't want to resort to risking her safety by being in strange men's houses while they were unconscious. She didn't want to risk being there when they woke up in an angry drunken stupor. She didn't want to use bars as a pick up place for victims. She didn't want there to even be victims from her hand.

But she had to. This was the only way she could survive without being noticed.

And with that, she took a deep breath and hid her hands behind her back, creeping quietly into the room with the couch.

As she stepped right up next to the couch where she could perfectly wrap her hands around his mouth for an easy and clean knock out, he released the biggest snore from below. She sighed a sigh of relief and watched him a few more seconds to make sure he was truly asleep. When she confirmed that he was, she snuck over to the table next to the couch and grabbed his wallet off of it.


	4. Rabbit Hole

Adachi stood in front of Marukyu Tofu and contemplated what a stupid idea it was that an idol decided to run herself to a city in the middle of nowhere that still hasn't found an active serial killer. Not only careless and stupid, but also selfish. Her wide popularity meant that she required the Inaba Police Department to use some of their resources to keep her safe from bombarding, stalkers, and anyone with the intention to harm her. And of course that meant the transfer cop got to be on the job while the "big boys" handled the murder case.

If it were anyone else, they might have been offended at the police's refusal to take them seriously, they may have thrown a stink about it or just downright refused orders and forced someone else to do it- but Adachi leaped at the opportunity to not be stuck in a stuffy building with a bunch of overly-analytical nutjobs that can't see the truth even when it's right next to them.

He stood off to the side of the tofu store and stared out at the rest of the shopping district. The town buzzed with unintelligible chatter from all of the paparazzi and middle aged mothers painting the streets. With a smug look on his face, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ball lollipop that he had recently gotten out of one of the prize machines in the area. Despite the label "mystery flavor" and its clear transparency, he knew immediately when the candy hit his tongue that it was the simplest, yet most delicious, flavor of candy: cherry. He closed his eyes to rest his other senses and focus them just on this hard candy in his mouth.

A proper flavorgasm... to be cut short by the lollipop suddenly escaping his lips. He opened his eyes to be greeted with the mysterious light-brunette friend of his placing the candy- his candy- in her mouth and smirking as she walked backwards. Adachi remained in place for a minute, dumbfounded, until Sophie spun herself forward and strutted on down the sidewalk, swaying her hips with every step she took. Her frilly red skirt flowed with her in an almost hypnotic movement that pulled Adachi forward to get his candy back, or to reach her, or whatever the goal was in his scattered mind.

The buildings around them began to blur and turn green, almost like she was leading him into a forest or a park. She disappeared behind the trunk of a bigger tree and when Adachi went to peek behind it, she was further forward giggling at him. She used her hand to gesture him forward more and took off, once again. This time, it appeared as if she was heading towards a small building a little farther off in the distance.

Her giggle became the only sound he could hear other than the crunching of his feet in the dead foliage and the wind blowing the leaves on the trees around. The whole world in his peripheral vision spun around him in a dream-like blur with the only focus being on the girl running away, yet the only thing making him dizzy was when the girl with the angelic appearance looked around to make sure the coast was clear and disappeared into the building.

Adachi sped up when her giggling became quieter and quieter, hoping to catch it before it disappeared. The spinning of his surroundings fell in on him more and more as he got closer until every inch of his vision was blurs. He grabbed his head in pain, reaching his other hand out to the door handle and was relieved of the spell-like effects instantly. Removing the hand from his head, he took a deep breath in and opened the door.

When he walked in, the smell of rusty water and chlorine instantly tipped him off to the identity of the building: a public bathroom. Stepping forward and being greeted with sinks and stalls, he nodded as to confirm it to himself. Sophie stood in front of one of the sinks with her eyes focused on the mirror in front of her, almost as if she was completely oblivious to the fact that Adachi was standing only a few feet away from her even though she led him there and should have been expecting him. Adachi stood and assessed the situation and after watching Sophie drift off into another world while she splashed water from the sink that wasn't running onto her face, he walked right behind her and looked at her in the mirror.

"Hello, darling," Adachi cooed, satisfied that he towered over her in the mirror as a proper man should. Sophie began to slowly look up from the sink when he leaned down and pulled the hair to the left side of her neck, kissing the spots where the hair previously laid. He felt her jump when his lips touched her skin and took that as a cue to push himself onto her fully, shoving her forward so she was leaning onto the sink and had to catch herself with her arms out and her hands on the mirror.

He danced his hands from her shoulders down to her waist, squeezing her stomach from both sides to get her to squeak. When she gave him the reaction she wanted, he smirked and slid his hands down further, stopping at her skirt. He gathered the corners of the skirt in his fists, closing his eyes to feel his front against her back as he slowly hiked the clothing upwards. When he lifted it enough to reveal her lacy red panties, he pressed himself against her again, this time wrapping his arms completely around her waist.

She felt the bulge in his pants grow as he gently rocked against her almost naked bottom. "Oh, God," she exhaled sharply when he bucked his hips into her. Hoping to achieve maximum contact, he removed his hands from her waist and leaned backwards, grabbing her hair into his hand and pulling it.

When he pulled away to undo his pants, she wiggled herself free from his hold and turned around, hoisting herself up to sit on the sink. She smirked and reached forward to grab his tie, his expression confused as she pulled him close to her, between her legs, when his pants dropped to his ankles. Sophie wrapped her spread legs around his hips and pulled him to her, forcing him inside with ease. She threw her head back against the mirror and inhaled sharply, letting out a loud moan to follow. Adachi smirked, his ego boosted by her immediate pleasure as he entered her, taking it as a sign to continue. He leaned himself forward, using one of his hands to balance himself against the mirror and another to wrap around her waist, pulling her stomach closer to his own.

He glanced at himself in the mirror for a second and was slightly amused at the picture he was given: light-brown hair in a ball reflected where Sophie's head rested on the mirror as she was being happily fucked by the thin police officer in a public bathroom. His white work shirt was almost transparent with dampness caused by the dew and humidity from the walk and the sweat that also showed weighing his short, butchered hair down and trickling onto his neck.

Sophie popped open her eyes and also was greeted with the detective's sweaty, sticky image. She moved her hands from his tie and placed them on his shoulders, getting him to open his eyes and look down at her. When their eyes met, Adachi exchanged his repeated aggressive thrusting for a slower, more intimate rhythm that made Sophie react with a smile and a squeak. At that moment, he glanced down to her sweaty, shiny lips and decided to break his own rules. He narrowed his eyes, smirked, leaned down to meet her face and—

Adachi yelped in pain and his eyes jolted open as his body, and erect member, smacked on to the floor, bringing along all of his bedsheets. Instead of getting up, he rolled onto his back and succumbed to his fate of drowning in sheets, hoping he could return back to his dream if he refused to move. As a couple minutes passed and his mind refused to fall back asleep, he groaned in disappointment and wiggled around to unravel himself from his blanket hell. Throwing the big pile of blankets back on to the bed, he wondered if it would be more convenient to just buy some pajama pants rather than sleeping in his boxers and having to compensate for the cold. When he glanced at the clock that read 3:30AM however, he decided that it was a mental debate for when it wasn't ass early in the morning.

"Sophie, did you want to try anything this time around? It'll be a couple days." A well-dressed young man that looked around the same age as Sophie approached her "bed", a mattress on the floor, wrapping his suit-cuffs around his wrist properly and snapping them into place.

She glanced up from her book at him, smiling at the sight. He was quite an attractive guy, his hair was a little long for someone his age but it still framed his sharp-angled face well. He was average height but worked out just enough when he was out that his figure was appealing to pretty much anyone that bothered to give him a second look.

A harsher female voice shouted from across the large shoddy room, "Chill out, Soph. If you look at him any longer you might end up pregnant."

The boy turned to face her, snapping back, "Oh is that what happened to you, Aimi?"

Sophie rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling, fearing another screaming fight between the two "roommates" She turned the other way, leaning down to reach between her bed and the wall and grabbed the metal box on the floor. Aimi's response was slightly muffled but still very clear, "No, I got properly fucked by a rich heir to a business that just so happened to be engaged to someone else, which is still more action than you've ever had in your life. So shove it." Just as Aimi finished her defense and subsequent attack, Sophie lifted the box back to herself and sat it down on her lap, popping in the key and opening it.

She stared at the contents of the box, quite satisfied with the amount of cash she had collected in the small town. She debated how much to hand to the boy, deciding on a much larger amount than usual. "Kaito," she barked as he opened his mouth to fight back with Aimi, hoping to get his attention. He quickly turned around to face her, staring at the wad of cash she was handing him in awe.

Hesitantly, he reached his hand out and grabbed the cash she was offering to him. "Are you sure? What if you have to leave before I get back?"

"Eh, we'll probably run into each other again in another city anyway," Sophie smiled and closed her box back up, tucking it back in its hidden spot and ignoring the childish gagging from Aimi.

A few minutes after Kaito had left, Aimi made her way over to the end of Sophie's mattress, smugly sitting at the foot. She cleared her throat to get Sophie's attention to no avail. A minute passed. "SO," Aimi almost shouted, successfully getting Sophie to glance up from her book.

"Yes, Aimi-chan," she responded cautiously, knowing by the sly look on Aimi's face and the fact that she was literally on her bed meant this was not going to be a topic Sophie wanted to talk about.

"Did you know you talk in your sleep?"

"No, but thank you for sharing that fun fact about myself with me." Sophie knew that she probably shouldn't be using a monotone, annoyed voice to talk to Aimi knowing the best way to get her to go away is by not letting her get the reaction she wants, but it was late and Sophie had exhausted all of her socializing energy trying to wiggle discounts and cash out of people all day.

"It's true," Aimi closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. Sophie was appalled at how much of a drama queen this girl could be and honestly wondered if her unborn child would come out of the womb a famous musical theater performer. "And I am a little nervous to tell you this..."

"Then don't."

"BUT my poor soul feels like it CAN'T let love go unmatched... I heard you moaning Kaito's name last night in your sleep."

Sophie snorted and rolled her eyes, glancing back down at her book. "Well that's really funny considering I was out all night and I'm pretty sure you were too."

"Ah yes, a smart girl. She failed to fall for my trap."

"There's no trap to fall for. I don't like Kaito and he doesn't like me. It's a strictly business relationship. I don't date and you're wasting your energy getting all worked up over trying to pair us together."

She hung her head and looked down at her crossed hands in front of her protruding stomach, twirling her fingers together. "You're right, I'm sorry."

"Thank you for apologizing, now if you please would-"

Her three seconds of down time recharged her for another approach. "My son. I think I want to name him... oh I don't know. Tohru."

Sophie's face unexpectedly felt like flames were dancing beneath her skin, her heart began to race, her palms started to sweat. She swallowed and choked out, while trying to hide any change of emotion, "that's a nice name. But what if it's a girl?"

Ignoring the question, Aimi carried on. "Yeah, I like the name! I mean, I heard you muttering it in your sleep a couple nights ago actually. It's such a great name!"

"N-no you didn't!" Sophie's composure was shattering quickly, having been thrown off by Aimi's careful ears and nosy attitude.

While Sophie was reacting negatively, Aimi's eyes lit up and her smile grew wide, knowing she'd hit the jackpot. "So who is this, Toh-ru and why are you freaking so hard? Is he... a doctor? Married?" She gasped. "Married with kids!" She continued to ramble on taboo relationships and as she got wilder and wilder, Sophie let down her defenses as she realized Aimi had nothing on him other than his name and she could probably get her to drop the conversation with the right situation.

Sophie let her heartbeat return to normal so she could talk without choking and nodded, mocking Aimi's expression earlier. "Yes," Sophie started after clearing her throat, getting Aimi to stop guessing. She used a projecting voice almost as if she were on stage. "You're right, you got me. Tohru is a thirteen year old that swept me off my feet, wooing me with beautiful jewelry and money. Age is just a number, however, and by golly he is the only one for me!"

Aimi's face fell. "You're not funny. I'll find out who this man, or woman, is eventually."

"Why don't you focus on finding yourself a stable job so when you pop you aren't trying to feed your child with gossip and baseless assumptions," Sophie snapped, getting Aimi to be stunned and offended enough to remove herself from Sophie's bed and walk over to where her own bed was. She was annoyed with herself for apparently dreaming about a man that, in reality, she knew nothing about- only what he told her; annoyed that the last couple of times she had tried to flirt her way into men's wallets she had gotten cold feet and had to go home empty handed, annoyed that she couldn't fake a conversation when she had met the first person in a long time who she found interesting enough to want to see again.

She was thankful, however, for Kaito. If he came back with big winnings, she could leave this town comfortably and stay away from men, boys, women, anyone for a while and return to the self she needs to be to survive: alone.


	5. Truth or Dare

If he had to be honest, Adachi would say that he didn't understand why people even drank coffee. Surely there were things that could wake you up that had more to it than just... beans. Why wasn't the cultural norm to wake up and have an ice cold beer for breakfast? Or to carry around a container filled with orange juice? His thoughts swarming with these unanswered questions, he still accepted this drink he despised with a smile on his face when Dojima handed it to him after the bad news of "you're on guard duty for Rise Kujikawa." He didn't react. His dream prepared him for this.

He stood off to the side, peering into the group of paparazzi attempting to swarm the front of the store. The lights of the flash from the cameras and the mumbling created by all of them attempting to get her attention at once annoyed him. They were so stupid and petty. The store was too small to fit more than ten people and she obviously wouldn't exit the building until the last Professional Stalker had gone home for the night. He took a sip of his drink and turned around, hoping to dodge the flickering lights from the pests before he gave himself a headache.

Over in the distance, he noticed a man and familiar woman sitting outside of the temple. Even with the time he had spent with the woman, he knew nothing about her other than what she looked like, felt like, and told him. "I don't normally" this and "you were special" that- things he had known were things that every hook up and high school girl said to get their guys' blood pumping. He believed her at first, he would admit. He wanted to believe her. She was a beautiful girl who gave him more attention than anyone else had recently. Call it desperation, call it a crush, call it what you will, it was foolish and it needed to stop.

And yet... he couldn't stop sneaking glances at the two and waiting for something to happen.

'What a bitch,' he thought to himself. 'I bet she's telling him the same things she told me. 'Oh I never do this but how about we go back to your place... oh you're so special'' He continued to "quote" her in a high-pitched voice mockingly while turning to keep an eye on the crowd again, thanking the heavens that it was beginning to disperse a bit. He turned his head to look back at the couple, shocked by the image that he was greeted with.

Sophie had gotten up and was facing the man, shaking her head at him. She opened her mouth to speak, but whatever she said had made the man angry, resulting in him crossing his arms across his chest and turning away from her. He saw Sophie take a deep sigh and walk away. Without dragging him to his own house, without heckling him, without swinging her hips or playing with her hair, he saw her head tilt to the ground sadly as one of her hands held on to her forehead. His mind raced for possible reasons for her leaving: to catch him later when he's better off guard, he had no money, she didn't feel like it... or maybe something was distracting her.

If he thought hard enough about it, he realized this mysterious girl that tricked him really was more entertainment than the two murders. There was scandal: an unfamiliar beautiful young woman running around Inaba, seducing everyone's boyfriends and husbands. There was drama: a series of possible thefts following two high-profile murders. There were secrets: the girl who romanced her way into people's lives and tricked them into "giving her money". How long could this go on? Was he falling for her or for the idea of excitement? Who would stop her?

A voice chirped behind him, breaking him out of his spell. "Hey isn't that that dorky cop your uncle works with?"

* * *

Sophie sat on a rock, hugging one of her legs and letting the other sink into the water beneath the rock. Deeply, she breathed in and out, mesmerized by the light of the moon reflecting off of the crystal clear waters. The river intrigued her. There was so much life, big and small, floating around in a big body of water. Their bodies wiggled with grace and elegance as they weaved around one another. There these creatures were, completely unaware of the life that they lived and how much of an impact they had on an environment that they couldn't survive in. She considered how similar we were to the fish. Although we were much bigger, we suffer an extreme disadvantage in their territory, having not been born with the ability to breathe underwater.

Today, Sophie felt the disconnection between the water and land stronger than ever. She wanted nothing more than to be in control of her territory, to have the advantage against every force that fought her. However, it was only so long before the fish out of water started to choke and the human started to drown. She was not made for this, and sooner or later she would trip up and lose. We were mortal.

"I heard a rumor that if you look into the water when the clock strikes midnight, a detective will show up on the beach. It's called the midnight river channel."

Sophie rolled her eyes at the dorky voice calling from behind her. "It's a good thing you aren't a comedian, otherwise you'd be even poorer than you already are." When he spat out a fake sob, she carefully regained her balance and stood on the rock, turning around and walking back to the shore. As she approached the second to last rock, Adachi reached his hand out and took hers, leading her to safety. She hopped from the very last rock down to stand right in front of him. She smiled and looked up at him, putting her arms at her sides proudly.

Adachi took a glance at her eye and laughed. "Jeez, look at that shiner! I bet there's a great story to go with it. Let me guess, saving children from a burning building."

Sophie chuckled once sarcastically and rolled her eyes at him again. "I wish. Some lunatic girls came up to me and attacked me for doing one of their boyfriends. The girl caught him with me and he lied and said I tricked him into sleeping with me."

"Is that the one you were with today?"

Sophie turned her head to the side. "Yeah... You saw me?"

Adachi took a step backwards. "I mean I was actually doing my job you know, not just goofing off or procrastinating!"

Sophie snorted and nudged her head, directing Adachi to walk up the beach with her. She crossed her arms and they walked away from the water together, stopping a little bit away from the stairs. "I wasn't even into it today. I didn't want to get him drunk or anything I just... I don't know. But it made him mad I guess. I don't even know why I bothered to confront anyone today. I guess I'm just getting careless and restless." Quietly, Sophie crouched down and sat in the sand, stretching her legs out and using her arms as support behind her.

After a few seconds, Adachi followed her lead and sat down next to her. "That still doesn't give them a reason to hit you. You think she'd be smart enough to go after the guy that did the cheating, not the unsuspecting third party."

"It's all an ego boost for people these days. Girls just do what gives them manipulative power and guys do what makes them look like heroes. But in the end, everyone's still terrible. The whole world is shit."

Adachi glanced out into the river and smiled, fully agreeing with her statement of sheer misanthropy. It was uncommon for a woman, especially one that seemed to fight so hard to stay alive in life.

"Can I tell you something?" She choked out quietly.

"Hm? Yeah, sure."

"I lied to you when I said my family came back here for their family. My family wanted to come back here, but never got the chance to."

"What do you mean?"

She looked into Adachi's eyes, judging whether or not she should trust him or if he would even care. It was her secret that had been left unsaid for years. The secret almost died with her today, and she felt that it was important for someone to know. She took a deep breath in and looked back to the water. "I came here alone. My parents were murdered before they got the chance to come back here. There were tickets, we had it planned out. We almost escaped."

Adachi remained quiet, hoping that his lack of questions would clear her thoughts and allow her to speak with ease.

She cleared her throat and began again, trying not to choke up. "My life was happy. My family was happy. My parents were madly in love. They came here to get married because my mother's parents disapproved of the marriage- they didn't want an American to take away their daughter's life and to taint her with the culture. So they left. They didn't know the love the two had, I guess. It kept my childhood happy and healthy.

But... I guess in the end they weren't entirely wrong. My father had lost his job due to the business going under and we had a lot of expensive things that would get taken away if we couldn't pay for them. Houses, cars, the neighborhood... So my dad turned to dealing.

And we were fine. Neither me nor my mom noticed the change in employment. Every day he dressed up and left for work and he came back at the same time. We spent even more once he told us he had gotten promoted.

It wasn't long until another dealer around the area caught wind of the reason why he was losing so many sales- to my father. This dealer, the leader of a gang, was very angry. He threatened my dad who did not take him seriously. Then we started getting knives in the mail from anonymous addresses. My mom made my dad explain what happened and we knew we had to leave.

Sure enough, we planned to come back here and live in a small town where no one could find us. And sure enough, I came home from school late to a giant house fire. Both my mom and my dad were being pulled out of the house on stretchers with bags over their bodies."

"I'm so sorry to hear that..." Adachi quietly apologized. He placed his hand on Sophie's hand and rubbed the top of it with his thumb.

Sophie took a couple of deep breaths in and out, closing her eyes and holding back her tears. "They found me a few days later and kidnapped me. But to not raise suspicion I guess or whatever, they let me go back to school and pretend like nothing was wrong. When one of the bozos let their guard down, I took off and hitchhiked to another state. I got a job at a nearby gas station and thought I could finally get away from them.

But they were ruthless... one of the main guy's friends works in the banks or in government or something because they made it so I was unable to access my bank account and they tracked me down. A short while later, I came here and have been bouncing from city to city every time they get the lead on me. Basically my dad chose the wrong guys to mess with and now I'm being punished for it."

Adachi brought his hand to his chin and stared up into the sky, pondering what she just said. His mind raced with questions. The drama was intriguing. "How did you manage to get across the seas to get here? And why are they going after you? What good is it to go after a young woman when her father is already gone?"

"I stole some rich woman's credit card and ID when I was at the airport and bought a plane ticket here. I doubt she even noticed. She was one of those chicks with like twelve cell phones and a million credit cards. Once I got here I threw it out so they wouldn't be able to track me though. As for the guy... I really don't know..." Sophie pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them. "I don't understand either. I think one of the guys was infatuated with me or something or maybe they were just using me to set an example to anyone else that wants to mess with their turf. It's stupid, really. Everything is stupid. Everyone is stupid."

"You fight really hard to survive for someone that thinks life is stupid."

Sophie shrugged. "I guess I'm just thriving on the dream that one day things will be better. Maybe they will die and I can be free. I can start a family or something. I don't know. I don't really know anything."

The waves picked up slowly, crashing against the rocks and splashing just in front of the two. The sound of silence and the vision of peace and life going on calmed them both.

"Tohru?" Sophie asked quietly.

"Hm?"

"Why did you choose to be a police officer? You said you were the top of your class, right? Why would you waste that on such a low-paying service job?"

Adachi smirked and nodded. A second later, he snorted and threw his head back. Sophie smiled at his weird laugh. "I have no idea. When I thought of being stuck in an office day in and out making money for a crappy business, the idea made me sick. My parents suggested I be a doctor but... I'm not very good at saving people. I wanted something thrilling. And eventually, that led to police officer."

"Th-that's it?" Sophie choked through trying not to laugh. She could see in his eyes that he was far more intelligent than most people, and she was quiet impressed that he was more interested in the idea of being thrilled than being fiscally comfortable.

"Hey don't laugh!" He scooped a handful of sand and threw it at Sophie's bare feet. She wiggled her toes and sighed deeply.

It was probably the first time in a long time that Sophie could say she was happy- and certainly the first time in a very long time that she could say she was happy while *simultaneously* being around someone else. Although she still was running, she felt relieved having told her story, knowing that at least someone would know what she went through if she lost her fight.

She appreciated the personality on this strange detective. He was open and honest yet also quiet and reserved. He was honest but made the choice to let few people see who he really was. He was just like her. Cynical and calculative. Misanthropic, yet did everything in their power to make life better for themselves or other people. While Sophie chose to keep fighting, Adachi chose to stop crime.

Sophie laid all the way down in the sand, putting one hand behind her head and the other on her stomach. "Truth or dare?"


	6. Your Affection

Plop!

Adachi groaned and swiped at his face.

Plop! Plop!

His eyes fluttered open slowly, a blurry world greeting his ascension into consciousness. As his vision cleared, he saw that the starry sky that was there only a second ago glowed as the overcast reflected the light of the moon onto itself. As he lay on his back, confused, another droplet came from the sky, crashing between his eyes. Remembering where he was, he pulled himself up slowly, holding his arms behind him to hold himself up, and looked to the right, checking to see if he was abandoned or not. To his pleasant surprise, he found her laying on her side with her hands under her head and smiling. More drops began to fall onto his head and legs, pulling him back into the reality of what was happening.

"Sophie," Adachi laughed drowsily, leaning over to shake her. "Hey, we fell asleep. Wake up!"

Sophie grumbled when he shook her, only opening her eyes when a few raindrops smacked her in the eyes. "What time is it…" she grumbled with her eyes half closed.

She was jolted awake, however, when the rain went from slightly drizzle to full downpour in a matter of seconds. Adachi stood up clumsily and pulled Sophie up with him, laughing at the disgruntled look on her face. "Come on," he shouted, taking her wrist and pulling her behind him as they ran through the rain.

After they had gotten up the stairs and headed towards shelter, Sophie's frown had melted into a smile and then a giggle. Falling asleep with a guy next to her only to be woken up by rainfall sounded like something straight out of a romance novel and certainly was not likely to happen in her life, yet here she was getting pulled around by this dorky, lanky detective whose coat waved in the wind and made him look like a superhero.

Adachi finally let go of Sophie's hand when they reached the entrance to a building with a lot of doors which Sophie assumed was his apartment. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, wiping his face of the rain dripping down from his hair on his sleeve. As he fumbled with the door, Sophie watched as a drop of water fell from his bangs onto his cheek, dripping down to his lips. Her temperature rose slightly and her breath caught in her throat when she stared at his lips, tracing his sharp jawline and thin neck with her eyes. She wondered why such an attractive young man, that apparently was very intelligent, wasn't snatched up already.

"Welcome to my mansion," Adachi greeted sarcastically when he finally unlocked the door, gently pushing Sophie into the room. It was hardly a mansion. It was hardly even a home in Sophie's eyes. She wondered how such a complex man could live in such an… empty house. There was no decorations, no personality… "Hey are you okay?"

The words broke Sophie out of her spell. "Huh?"

"You're shivering really badly. You're gonna catch a cold." Adachi removed his outer jacket and threw it towards the doorway of a room a little bit away from where they were standing.

It was like Sophie was just made aware of her involuntary shaking and how cold she really was, causing her to shiver harder. She crossed her arms against her chest and lifted her shoulders. "Maybe if you didn't keep it like a freezer in here… I don't even have heat and my place is warmer than this."

Adachi headed towards his bedroom. "Don't just blame it on me!" he corrected in a raised voice from his room. "You WERE just running around in the rain after all." After finishing scolding Sophie, he approached from his bedroom holding two pieces of folded clothing and offered them to her. "Go take a hot shower and throw your wet clothes out the door and I'll hang them to dry."

A smile grew on Sophie's face as she took the clothing, making the detective smile back. "The pants are too big for me," he blurted, killing the mood.

The smell fell from Sophie's face. "Why are you giving them to ME then?! You think I'll fit?!"

Adachi walked behind Sophie and began pushing her in the direction of the shower room. "Don't worry about it… just hurry up and take your shower already! The early bird catches the worm!"

* * *

It was the first time in a long time that Sophie had all the time in the world to take her shower. Normally, she would borrow the shower of the men she would rob, rushing to just quickly freshen up so she wouldn't get caught when they woke up. As the hot water hit her skin, it felt like all of the tension her muscles had been holding for the past few years had dripped down her body and washed down the drain. The hair that she had so intricately wrapped in a side-pony tail before the rain had fallen against her shoulders and warmed her skin.

As she turned to the side, she jumped when met with a searing pain in her arm. She reached around with her hand and cupped the wound on her shoulder that she had completely forgot about. She turned her head to get a better look at the injury now that she was in better lighting and was greeted with five scratches. Sophie grimaced at the scar. Remembering another place she got hit, she crawled her hand up her arm and reached around to her shoulder. Pressing down lightly, she confirmed her suspicions- a brutal bruise.

Sophie closed her eyes and sighed deeply, thankful that for just these few moments, the presence of another human didn't involve having to be afraid or getting hurt. She wished she could have said the same thing about today's incident.

The clicking of Sophie's heels on the cement echoed against the tightness of the surrounding buildings in the alley. Some might have found the sound unsettling, reminiscent of a nightmare where threat is lurking but is nowhere to be seen. To Sophie, however, the sound was empowering. There was no screaming, no flirting, and no life- only her and this beautiful evening. She took a deep breath in to let the cool air fill her lungs.

The calming evening air was pushed out of her violently as a large blunt object smacked into her shoulder from behind. Losing her balance, she fell forward and landed face down on the cement. Pain rushed to her right eye and a soreness grew right where she was hit in the back. As she was about to turn over, a hand with sharp nails grabbed her shoulder and forced her onto her back, ripping her shirt and scratching her skin- another mark she'd get from tonight.

Out of her left eye, she blinked to clear the blurriness as she reached around and held onto her injured arm. Three girls around her age stood above her, one with a baseball bat, looking down at her. "Wh…what do you want from me," Sophie muttered, sitting up just enough to look at them.

"Revenge," the one in the middle said. Her arms sat crossed on her chest and she wore a high school uniform complete with the thigh-highs and way too much makeup for a high schooler. "For fucking my boyfriend."

Sophie scoffed. "Get real, you're like twelve and I didn't sleep with anyone- let anyone anyone's boyfriend."

"B-Bullshit!" The girl with the bat chimed in, nervously. "I s-saw you today! You were with him!"

Sophie leaned her head back onto the ground, cringing as a shooting pain went up to her cheek. "The only idiot I was with today wanted to take me back home and when I told him he was too young he got mad and I left."

"That's not what he told me when I confronted him! He said you coerced him into sleeping with you!"

"You children are so freaking gullible… You believe what a guy that's obviously cheating on you has to say?"

"Take her out," the leader said with authority.

As the girl with the bat lifted it above her head to swing down at Sophie, she swiped her leg underneath her attacker and targeted her ankles, knocking the girl off of her feet and successfully causing her to fall on her butt. The baseball bat rolled towards Sophie.

In a desperate attempt to keep Sophie from getting revenge, the girl leaped forward and reached towards the free bat, but not before Sophie sat up and grabbed it. The three girls froze in fear.

"Leave me the hell alone and if you ever come back to try to hurt me, I won't let you live another day."

Their voices rang in her ears. Sophie knew she was lucky to be alive. The three girls were incredibly cocky and entitled, which meant that they were also reckless, careless, and fearful. Sophie was able to collect the bat in time, capitalizing on their fear and successfully making them run away. Had she not, however, the girls would have been too lost in their fits of rage and egotistical ways that Sophie may have died tonight or worse… been left for her followers to find.

She swiped the tear from her eye, carefully avoiding the cut on her face, and reached down to turn off the shower. Opening the door, a puff of denser steam was released into the air, making it even foggier in the bathroom. She reached down to grab her matching red lacy bra and panty set from the pile on the ground, thankful that it was only a little bit wet.

Once she had those on, she grabbed the shirt Adachi had handed her from the counter and put it on, buttoning it up just enough to leave room to breathe. She rolled the sleeves up properly, as to not cause any wrinkles, and shook to settle all of the bunched up clothing. Despite her thinking that they actually weren't much different in size, Adachi being only slightly taller and thinner than her, she felt like she could drown in his shirt. The bottom of it just extended slightly past her hips and the arms, when not rolled up, went a good three inches past her fingertips.

Next, she grabbed the bottoms. As she held them out, she realized why Adachi said they were too big for him. The waist itself was large enough to fit both of them. Was this a prank or just a gift from someone that wasn't paying attention? Regardless of the answer, she looked into the mirror and decided the long shirt covered enough of her. Besides, what was the point of her being shy around him?

Sophie exited the bathroom and walked to door of his bedroom. At the foot of his bed, Adachi sat wore only a pair of white boxers with pink dots and a gray hoodie, shivering gently. She blushed and looked down to the floor, feeling like butterflies were rushing to her stomach, and cleared her throat to get his attention. When he glanced up at her, she peeped, "I'm out now if you want to warm up too…"

Adachi's eyes wandered her outfit. The red underwear peeked out from the top and the bottom of the shirt, putting her breasts on display. Since the shirt was so thin, the red material showed through the fabric a bit as well. There she stood, in his bedroom doorway, half-naked and blushing with the gentlest smile on her face.

He slowly got up and walked towards her, stopping right in front of her between the doorway so the space between them was very tight. When he looked down at her, she looked up at him. The two stood in silence.

Adachi reached his hand out and touched her facial wound. He cleared his throat, "when I'm in the shower, why don't you grab some ice from the freezer and put it on your eye so some of the swelling goes down and the bruise goes away faster."

"I didn't know you were a doctor," Sophie said sheepishly.

Adachi put his hand behind his head and scratched through his hair. "It's just basic police stuff… in the city you can get into a lot of fights and I've had my fair share of black eyes."

Silence erupted between the two again.

Sophie, with a groan and scratch in her throat, muttered, "You should probably go shower."

Adachi lowered his hands and smiled, stepping a bit to the right to clear the doorway before turning around. "Yeah, you're right huh."

* * *

Adachi walked into the room, now wearing a towel wrapped around his waist and dragging another through his hair. "Hey you know I can sleep on the floor tonight if you wanna sl-" he stopped midsentence when he saw Sophie fast asleep on the floor with his fluffiest blanket nestled up all the way to her chin. He sighed. "I try to be cute and chivalrous and I'm met with resistance," he whispered to himself.

* * *

"You can be late to work one day, right Tohru-kun?" The stunned look on Adachi's face when he walked into the kitchen and saw Sophie at his stove surrounded with food, actual hot cooked food, brought a smile to her face. He stood in the doorway with his shirt half unbuttoned and half tucked into his pants that were unbuttoned, complimented with his belt hanging open. His hair, although not normally in place anyway, looked extra ridiculous, like he had never brushed it in his life. One of his brows were raised while the other pinched his eye half closed and his mouth hung open. Sophie remained quiet, holding the spatula in her hand and leaning on the counter near the stove with a smirk on her face. He knew she turned his alarm off.

Not changing his expression, he glanced at all of the food laid out. Pancakes, eggs, toast, orange juice… how the fuck did she know he liked orange juice? "Where did you get all this," he finally croaked out.

She smiled and wiggled seductively. Whatever she was doing, it was working. "Well I woke up and saw that you apparently don't eat since there was literally no food here. So I got dressed and walked to Junes for some groceries! I took the key in your pants so I could let myself back in."

"So you got dressed… came back… and got… undressed…" Adachi carefully chose his words.

Sophie looked down at her outfit that she wore last night: or rather, just one of Adachi's work shirts over her underwear. "Hmm?" She pretended like she had no idea what he was talking about. "Oh…" She scoffed. "This old thing?"

"Unbelievable," he muttered in awe, failing to hide the arousal creeping into his voice.

She turned back to the stove. "Come come now, you can eat and then you can take me back home and then you can go to work or call in sick or whatever you do. I made an American-style breakfast just like my pappa used to make."

* * *

"You really admire him don't you? I mean I know he can be obnoxious and bossy, but you respect him."

"Well," Adachi began. "I guess I admire hard work. And that man… I don't think there's a lazy bone in his body."

"He didn't seem too mad that you called in today at least. Maybe you looked like you were getting sick?" The two stopped in front of an abandoned, partially demolished parking structure.

"Eh," Adachi began, "I think I'll probably go back anyway and say that I started feeling better. Try to get stuff done so I don't have so much to do. There's so much paperwork that it's disappointing."

Sophie smiled. "At least you got a nice breakfast to keep you energized for the day."

He put his hand behind his head and looked up to the sky, blushing as he remembered his delicious breakfast with a cute girl. "I still can't believe you did that… thanks, though."

Sophie nodded. "You're welcome. Thank you for letting me stay the night so I didn't have to walk home in that rain."

"What are friends for, right?"

A smile grew on Sophie's face. Friends. Is that what that meant? After a few seconds of silence, she cleared her throat. "Well um… I ought to get going… and you should probably go to work. Thank you for the ride home."

"Hey no problem at all! Hopefully one of the desk worker's shifts is over by now so I don't have to listen to his obnoxious voice while I'm working. I'll talk to you soon probably, alright?"

"Mhm." Sophie nodded. Right before Adachi turned around to head towards his car, Sophie lifted herself upwards on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. When her feet returned back to solid ground, she turned around and headed for what looked like an entry way.

As she walked into the room, she smirked and bit her lip. She realized she probably shouldn't have done that, as it made her more confused. He was cute. His voice was cute, his stance was cute… his personality was unique: almost like it was hand-crafted by himself to give the perfect mix of mystery and average male. He was kind. He had a stable life, even if it wasn't glamourous. It had been a long time since Sophie had felt butterflies in her stomach near someone, and never this strong.

But ultimately, she was much different than him. She could not follow a schedule or plan ahead. She could not afford to be nice. The only time she used a different personality was to commit a crime in order to survive. And while his life was stable, she couldn't ever count on doing anything "the next day" because of having to move from city to city. It was useless to fall in love.

"Soph! Oh my Gawd! Are you okay?! What happened to your eye!? I'm so sorry it's all my fault you left and I'll never bring up anything you don't want to talk about again I was so worried when you didn't show up last night!" Aimi, the broken record, ran up to Sophie and recited a long, jumbled apology filled with concern and false promises.

"Aimi, it's fine I just want to be alone for a bit please… I didn't get much sleep."

Aimi glared past Sophie's shoulder. "And what do YOU want?"

Sophie froze.

"Hey um… you left this in my car." Adachi held up a purple credit card with two fingers. "I thought it was probably important and I should get it back to you sooner rather than later."

Aimi grinned, taking a glance at Sophie who was staring the strange man in the eyes like he was going to explode any second. This was him. This was the guy.

"Th-thank you," Sophie said quietly. Aimi knew now. And Sophie knew she would never hear the end of it. Adachi approached her and she took the card from him, nodding.

"Hey sure. I'll catch you later! I'm leaving for real this time." And off he scurried back to his car.

He followed her. He followed her inside. If someone was watching Sophie, now they knew who to go after to hurt her. Now he knew the trash hole he lived in. Now Sophie could feel Aimi's eyes piercing her soul.

"…You're seriously fucking a cop. You must want to get caught."

"I'm not-" Sophie stuttered, beginning to panic. "We're not… he's just a friend! Stop being so nosy!"

"You're putting all of us at risk here! You shouldn't have brought him. Boyfriend or no." All of the energy and perkiness that Sophie found annoying left Aimi's eyes and was replaced with fear and anger.

Sophie rolled her eyes and stormed off towards her bed. "You know, it's funny because just a couple of days ago you couldn't stop squealing at me and now that you have met a FRIEND it's suddenly not okay. Those cops have more important things to worry about right now and I'm not going to be bossed around by you."


	7. Old Ring

Sophie shifted her purse around as she approached the abandoned building she lived in. It only took her two seconds to move forward before the sound of her roommates harping had put a damper on her quiet, serene day in the park.

"What if one of us or all of us ends up dead because SOMEONE can't have any self-control!" Aimi hissed through gritted teeth. Kaito, who had returned from his adventures, and Aimi had been standing only a foot away from each other screaming at the top of their lungs. Kaito went from being still to using his arms to gesture around the house as if he was pointing things out while Aimi stood her ground holding up her sinking stomach.

As Sophie walked between both of them, she asked "What are you two fighting about?" hoping it would lower the volume of the fight and bring both of them to a level-headed state. Not that Sophie really cared if Aimi and Kaito fought. In fact, she almost hoped they would so Aimi would storm out of the area and feel motivated enough to get up and do something rather than sit around all day whining. But this time she was afraid of lurking listeners and didn't want the attention drawn to the home.

While still grabbing her stomach with one hand, Aimi threw her other arm up into the air and rolled her eyes. "Oh look, it's the QUEEN of breaking the rules, here to meet with the KING." The dramatics this woman could put on were amazing. "You guys should get married or something so you don't punish your partners with false. Promises." Anger and sourness dripped in her words. The wrathful wrinkles in her face had fallen to form a sterner look.

"Wait," Kaito started, turning to Sophie confused. "What did *you* do?"

As Sophie lifted her hand to her forehead, already sick of this discussion, Aimi took the liberty of passive-aggressively answering for her. "She brought her cop boyfriend over! Just showed him the whole layout of the building that's filled with stolen money and items being housed by two undocumented girls and a gambler!"

Sophie snapped. "Okay no," she faced Kaito. "First of all he's not my boyfriend, he's a trusted friend. Second of all, I didn't take him here or show him around. He followed me in because I forgot something."

"But he's still a cop..." Kaito continued, worriedly.

"Yeah," Sophie corrected, "and between trying to catch a serial killer and people going missing every day, do you really think the cops have the time or care to come raid a house with a couple of girls living in it? I mean really."

After a second passed in silence, Kaito considering what she just said, Aimi cleared her throat again in annoyance. "Don't act all innocent, Kaito. You're still the one in the hot water right now."

Sophie stood dumbfounded on what Kaito possibly could have done to light the fire of Aimi's wrath so dramatically? She knew they hated each other, but usually Aimi's insults and commands were generally-spoken, not direct attacks.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a small black-haired girl curled up on the floor and staring at the fight. "Wh...Who's that?" Sophie asked, feeling she knew the answer already. Kaito's mistake. A mistake just like Sophie. A girl that he wanted to help, putting a strain on resources and increasing the risk of getting caught. Great, the blame would probably get put on her for 'starting this habit'.

"She won't tell me her name but she said she's a North Korean defector. She snuck here on a cargo ship and has been bouncing from town to town trying to get a grasp on life."

Aimi snorted, annoyed at his general answer to avoid the whole truth. "Some guy at the casino pawned her off on him and said he couldn't take care of her anymore. So Kaito, knight in not-very-bright-armor, saved the day and took her back here to be watched over by two girls that can't speak Korean and for her to sit in a dusty basement all day."

"Look," Kaito ordered firmly, loudly. Noticing the tone in his voice, he gave an unspoken apology by continuing in a more relaxed, apologetic tone. "Aimi, I'm sorry, okay? I know it's risky but she was at risk of being hurt. I know I broke my own rule and endangered your child. And I'm sorry. But what's done is done, okay?"

Aimi crossed her arms and glared Kaito up and down like a celebrity looking at a plate of pig slop. Whatever angry thoughts running through her head had become abandoned when she dropped her arms, sighed, rolled her eyes, and turned around to head towards her side of the room- the march of being defeated.

Kaito sighed, closing his eyes and rolling his head around his neck to stretch after the confrontation the second he walked in the door. He opened his eyes and saw Sophie staring at him with her head turned. Almost about to ask why she was looking at him, he remembered what he came here to say. "Oh yeah," Kaito said quietly, "I earned you big this time: quadruple. I considered going again to surprise you for an eight times earning, but I was afraid of losing it all." He opened the vest he was wearing and reached into the inside pocket, pulling out an envelope. "I know this won't hold you over forever, but you definitely won't starve."

Sophie stared down at the envelope in shock, tears forming in her eyes. "Thank you, Kaito," she peeped sincerely, pulling him into a tight and comforting embrace.

Kaito lowered his voice even more, hoping his voice wouldn't travel too far. "I also have another proposition for you and Aimi, though I'll talk to her about it when she calms down."

Sophie pulled away from the hug. She had no plans for the evening, so she nodded her head towards the door to the exit, suggesting they move outside.

* * *

"Sophie, a friend of mine that I have been talking to for some time is interested in helping you."

Sophie took a step back and shyly grabbed one arm with the other hand, casting her eyes to the ground. To be fair, the only help Sophie had been exposed to recently have been men (and women) offering help with the payment of sex. Help "unwinding", help "forgetting that ex-boyfriend"... whatever would get someone the opportunity to bed her was the offer. Even though her and the police officer were friends now, their relationship had begun through intercourse as well. She had become cynical and untrustworthy over time, saddened that the value of her mind or passion would always be overshadowed by her will to do whatever it took to survive and the need to work in the shadows of society.

Kaito, having known Sophie for quite some time, picked up on her change of mood and the fear in her eyes. He continued, hoping to ease her thoughts. "He's someone that can get you a new identity, a job where you can actually get paychecks, and you can move to wherever you want." When Sophie looked up at him curiously, he continued again. "All he asks for is to help him organize things online and move some money around for him when he requests it. It's easy and requires very little time. If you're interested, we can meet him for dinner at that big fancy restaurant in the city in a few days."

Sophie knew better than to get her hopes up too high, but any suggestion of a better, more normal life brought a smile to her face. She nodded.

* * *

Sophie slid off the last chunk of meat from her meat-ke-bob onto the plate in front of her and picked it up with her hands, shoving it into her mouth and sucking that finger clean. The classiest. "Sho," she gurgled, food still sloshing around in her mouth, "os you can shee, she's bohhy, buh harmless."

"She's harmless, yet you're afraid to get up whenever she's sleeping to find food because of her?" The suspicious police asked warily, not believing her one bit.

Sophie swallowed. "Hey man, pregnant women need their sleep. You never know when that baby could morph into her body and take her over, turning her into a two-headed man-eating zombie!"

Tohru smirked at the ridiculous girl in front of him shoveling food down her throat as if she hadn't eaten in days... and apparently she barely did. He had spent the last few days without seeing her, and that meant not checking on her health, afraid he'd unleash the wrath in her roommate, but he was genuinely pleased to see her waiting outside of the police station when he got out early. After hearing a rumbly stomach and a plea to discuss her life's events, he took her to the Junes food court for lunch. It was louder than Souzai Daigaku and the passersby wouldn't be nearly as nosy. "I hope you don't plan on eating like this when you meet that man."

Sophie swallowed another bite and sighed, leaning back into her chair. "Honestly, I'll probably be too nervous to eat... I mean, I really think this guy can help me. What if I can live a normal life, Tohru?" She sat up in her chair and leaned towards him. "What if I can make real money and live in a real apartment? Find myself a guy that really cares about me, settle down and get married and have kids?! I haven't thought about this in so long!"

Tohru's heartstrings pulled and he found himself getting angry at himself for being hurt over his friend's ramblings about freedom. He hadn't seen her this happy in such a long time. It took all of the strength inside of him to squash the desire to kill her buzz and bring her back down to earth.

He wasn't sure if it was because he thought he deserved to be happy first, or if he just realized how lonely he would be if she left? Was it jealousy of her life, or jealousy that some other place could be greeted with her blushing cheeks and chirpy face all while simultaneously despising the world she lived in.

"Can you take me to the hilltop?" She asked, breaking him out of his spell.

"Huh? What for?"

"Ah dunno... I'm kind of in the mood for some cheap romantic crap like looking out onto the city with the sunset in the background. You know, some really cheesy stuff."

"I mean, can't you see the sunset from my apartment window?" He was welcomed to a glare that could kill the weak-hearted. "Well, it's not like I have anything better to do with my time," he muttered under his breath as he stood up and pushed his chair in, pretending like he hadn't even suggested otherwise.

* * *

The elevator pinged as it dropped floors. Even living in the city for a while, he still was amazed at the massive size of this department store. As the door opened, he gestured Sophie out by placing the hand that wasn't in his pocket on the small of her back, pushing lightly.

A few steps out of the elevator and...

"Tohru-chan!" an old woman exclaimed from right in front of him. He swallowed hard realizing he didn't have the time to try to run away now. Crap. "Pleasure seeing you today! Is this young lady your wife?"

"Huh?" Adachi responded, his guard thrown off. It was then that he realized he still had his hand placed along her back. He quickly corrected that, blushing and throwing that arm behind his head. "N-no. I'm not married!"

"Well you should hurry up! You aren't getting any younger! Soon you'll be too old for all of the fun marriage activities and too old to take care of a child!"

Sophie smiled gently at the old woman and grasped onto Adachi's arm romantically. "We may not be married," she began, pitching her voice to what seemed like a million octaves above her usual and producing a sound so sweet it would make the Pillsbury dough boy sick, "but we just got engaged yesterday! And I couldn't be happier with my Tohru-chan!" She nuzzled her head onto his arm, noticing that his cologne was different today. Manlier? Heavier? More expensive? To Adachi's benefit, her mind jumping off of track distracted her from the blush creeping along his face.

"I don't see a ring on your finger, young lady! Make sure he gets you one, okay?"

Adachi looked down at Sophie with a fake smile plastered on his face and sheer disgust in his eyes, egging her to continue with this interaction. She glanced up at him, picking up on his cue, and continued. "Of course! It's just being sized right now! He gave me one handed down from his poor, sweet grandmother who had much bigger hands than I do! I'm so dainty and frill, I'm so glad a strong police officer could be my number one." Maybe this encounter wouldn't be so bad after all.

She nodded and smiled, soaking up all of the buttered-up lies Sophie spoon-fed her and eyed the two up. She continued to stand there awkwardly, enjoying staring at Sophie's nuzzling and cooing at a dumbfounded Adachi. After a few moments of silence, she spoke again. "Well then... I suppose I should be going! I've got to go to dinner with my son Tohru tonight! Make sure he eats his vegetables, young lady! He's looking a tad scrawny!"

Adachi grunted in frustration, not even choosing to hide the annoyance on his face anymore. He hated when people talked about his weight.

"I will! Thank you for keeping such a good eye on him for me when I can't be there!"

When the old lady bowed gently and ran off, Sophie released his arm. After a few seconds of walking in silence, she opted to reach for his hand, sending butterflies rushing through both of their stomachs which they both had to swallow down. When he didn't pull away, she smiled at the ground. She wasn't sure why she did it or what she would get out of it, but at the time it seemed like the right thing to do.

"You're disgusting, you know that?" Adachi stated, changing the subject and putting on a show to distract from his strange emotional state. "You just lied to an old lady!"

She chortled. "Yeah, but honestly I felt there was a 'The youngins are ruinin marriage with their datin' and screw-in!' coming and I wasn't gonna be there for that." She made sure to emphasize the old woman's wrinkly voice in her offensive quote, making Adachi chuckle in agreement.

"Maybe now she'll stop trying to shove her over seasoned food on me."

* * *

Adachi plucked one of Sophie's long hairs from his jacket. "I only had one girlfriend. In college, I mean. I wasn't allowed to date in high school. Her name was Yukiko and she was one of the prettiest girls in the school."

"How'd it end?"

Adachi and Sophie stood leaning on the fence, staring out at the town. If you didn't think the town looked like the boonies from the ground, you'd be crazy to think that looking at it from the hill. Green trees painted the land, making the shopping district and Junes look like the only parts of civilization reaching this strange city. It was oddly calming to look at everything so small from so high up, and it was so quiet it could make the most fussy baby fall asleep. Adachi must have also found this place to be serene, because he was answering Sophie's invasive questions without hesitation.

"Eh, as it turned out she was just using me to make her ex jealous." He shrugged. "It hurt pretty badly. I mean I really liked this girl. After we broke up, there were a fair amount of nerdy girls that wanted to date me, but I was being an overemotional brat and rejected all of them so I could sit in my self-pity. Pretty pathetic, huh."

Sophie shook her head. "No... Everyone handles things differently. I would have waited to date again too if that happened to me."

"Yeah? What about you, then?"

Sophie turned to him. "What about me?"

"Any boyfriend before you got kidnapped? Did you try dating when you were on the run?"

She sighed. "I mean I had a couple of boyfriends. Nothing serious and nothing ended terribly. I was young and they were young and we didn't really have an understanding of relationships. So we'd call each other boyfriend and girlfriend and hold hands walking to class and that'd be it. It was pretty childish." A smile grew on Sophie's face when she fondly remembered her younger days. Adachi smiled watching the memories flow back to her. "After the kidnapping though, I never tried to date anyone. I didn't know anyone long enough except for Kaito. I didn't try to make friends because I was afraid of getting attached and then have to leave. I had enough of sudden loss."

The sounds of nature rang between the two as they stood silently, wondering what to say next.

"Was I-"

"Did- Oh I'm sorry."

"You can go first," Adachi pleaded, realizing his question wasn't the most appropriate and was hoping the subject would change before it blurted out of his mouth.

"No it's okay, it was just a small talk question. You go ahead first."

"Eugh," he blurted. After a second where she wouldn't talk, he sighed. "I was... just going to ask if I was your first. You don't have to answer that, though!"

Sophie glanced to the ground. "No... That's okay. My statement kinda conflicted with our spontaneous first meeting. It's only natural that you'd have questions." When Adachi nodded, she continued after looking straight ahead into the city. "You weren't my first. My escape plan involved laying there and letting that man that was obsessed with me think I was in love with him. My seduction tactics revolve around lying and manipulation..." She looked to the ground sadly. "I don't know what it's like to do things that I want to do because I feel it in my heart. I only know how to do what it takes to survive."

He sensed her pain. He sensed her desire to not continue the conversation anymore, but instead to stand and really think about the direction her life has taken her. He assumed everything has been so fast-paced since the murders that she needed to slow down and fully realize everything going on around her. And it was with that sense that he placed his hand on her back again and rubbed gently, showing a distant yet caring symbol of support and admiration for the fight she put up over the last few years.

And as a sign of thankfulness, she side-stepped closer to him, pressing her side against his and leaning on his arm, allowing his to move from her back onto her arm into a side hug.


	8. Protect Her

Tonight is the night.

Sophie Hawthorne had spent the last couple of days distracting her friend Tohru Adachi every time they threw him on patrol. She often wondered how pathetic she came off with him being her only friend and managing to spend all the time with him she could. She wondered if she appeared clingy and annoying to him. He was, in fact, a little over five years older than her and he was incredibly full of himself. Maybe their friendship was just a stroke to the ego- to tame the untamable girl.

But she knew that the conspiracy thoughts she was having were her just trying to keep her guard up after he had smashed it down so easily. This young man smiled when she came around. He let her grab his hand to deflect threatening looks whenever they were out. He never forced her to answer any question that she was uncomfortable with. She knew in the back of her mind that they were genuinely friends.

Which is why, despite the lingering threat of being caught, kidnapped, or murdered she decided to take Kaito up on his offer for a job through his friend.

* * *

Pleased to hear the news, Kaito invited her to the mall to get a dress and a makeover. Knowing that they were to be attending the most luxurious restaurant for miles, Sophie agreed without a stink. It would be hard to explain why she was sporting the remnants of a black eye around people who have only seen fighting on their soap operas.

Sophie shuffled through the rack of dresses at a department store. She would find a color that she liked, pull it out, and shake her head, putting it back. After almost an hour of picking through every dress a couple stores had to offer, she had found the perfect one staring at her from the clearance bin.

* * *

"Soph, can I tell you something?" Kaito peeped from the seat next to Sophie's at the salon. Although he was not having anything done, the stylists let him sit in an empty chair so he could give a second opinion on the work being done to his friend.

She opened an eye and looked around, realizing the girl doing her makeup had walked away. "Hmm? Sure." He interrupted her daydreaming, but she couldn't be too mad for the favor he was giving her.

"You know how I would always leave for a while to go be with my girlfriend that waits patiently for me while I'm gone?"

"Yeah of course."

Kaito looked to the ground with shame in his eyes. "Aimi is that girl," he muttered.

Sophie's eyes grew wide at the sudden confession. She racked her brain for any hints, wondering if there was a time where she caught them without even realizing. "Wait… are you serious?"

He tilted his head back up at her and crimson dusted over his cheeks. He nodded once. "I love her. I've loved her for a long time. But when you came here to the border of Inaba, she made me keep that from you. She didn't trust you. She was afraid that her parents sent you or something."

She leaned back in the seat in shock with a slight smile on her face. All of the petty arguments they had made to each other flashed back in her head. It seemed like Aimi really wasn't a bad actress at all. The stylist came back with a new set of brushes and a tray full of makeup. "So, you're gonna be a dad?"

"Well, kinda. I mean I will be taking care of this child but they're not biologically mine." He sighed. "Unfortunately."

"Ma'am," the stylist pleaded. "Please keep your eyes closed."

"Sorry miss," Sophie choked out, embarrassed at her impulse to stare wide-eyed at Kaito once again. "What are you talking about, Kaito?"

"Long story short, the guy that we're meeting with tonight is actually the father of the baby. Both him and her had gotten really drunk one night while they were waiting for me and they had…" Kaito cleared his throat. "They made a poor decision." Kaito avoided the stylist's face so he didn't have to see the judgmental look cross her face.

"You still love her even though she made a mistake like that?"

He shrugged even though Sophie's eyes were still closed. "You can't help who you fall in love with. They both apologized and didn't try to keep it a secret from me. I mean it hurt… I won't say it didn't. But I had to look past that for her."

Sophie sat in silence, pondering if this is why Kaito was so happy and comfortable living under the shadows- because he had love and forgiveness in his heart. Was Sophie capable of that? Would she ever need to have it? Certainly, she didn't consider forgiving her stalkers. An accidental fling with someone was not even slightly comparable to the murder of family members for something as foolish as a drug deal. But she knew the hatred and vengeance she held in her heart prevented her from wanting to experience such happy feelings as love and forgiveness. You couldn't survive on forgiveness.

But what if this meeting allowed her to change her top priority from survival to… living.

* * *

"Damn, Sophie. You look amazing."

She stared at herself in the mirror. This would be the time where one would say they didn't recognize themselves, but the figure standing in the mirror wasn't a stranger, but a girl lost in time.

The stylist had brought out all of the features that she used to adore about herself. Her perky cheeks, her long lashes, her bold eyebrows, her bright green bruise-less eyes… And when she smiled, the magenta lip shade she wore made her look put together and professional. Her hair sat in an intentionally messy bun on the side of her head with a couple of curls poking out of the bottom.

She had opted for a long-sleeved dress to hide the healing scars on her back, but chose to have black-laced sleeves twirling into a plunge v near her collarbone. The rest of the dress was a matte black fabric that hugged her skin and brought out every womanly part of her body down to her thighs. On the very bottom, she wore black ruffle close-toed pumps.

It had been a long time since she had looked in the mirror and been pleased with the image in front of her. She was used to droopy, tired eyes that had not been well rested since the murder or a face full of makeup intended to deceive a foolish man. In fact, the woman in the mirror reminded her of an older version of her school-aged self when she would get dressed up to go to dinner with her friends after winning an extracurricular competition… days where she was happy.

* * *

And suddenly, her mind went to the police officer. She would stand in front of him and he would stare like a kid at a candy store with a big idiot grin on his face. He would wait until she looked away to stare at her curves, thinking he was slick. They would walk together and he would put his hand on her back, and when she'd look at him with a questioning expression, he would say he was keeping people's paws off of her for her own protection. But her favorite thing would be when he'd stop slouching those darn shoulders of his so he looked like he belonged next to her. She knew this would be exactly what would happen, including the part where he wouldn't kiss her or use any sort of suggestively romantic gesture towards her.

"You're thinking about that police officer Aimi was talking about, aren't you?"

Sophie smiled and her eyes fell to the ground, gently clearing her throat.

"You know," he began, "you shouldn't be afraid of getting to know people. You shouldn't be afraid of living life normally. Or at least as normally as you can manage."

She walked over to him and sat on the bench next to him, crossing her legs. They looked a little bit out of place, here, dressed up at a public mall and sitting together, despite not being a couple. She took a deep breath so she wouldn't tear up and mess up her makeup. "Kaito… I don't want them to win."

He placed his hand on hers. "They already are winning, don't you see? You may be alive but you aren't living your life to anywhere near the fullest. You spend almost all of your time hopping from city to city and hiding from them. And when you're not hiding, you're hanging around people you plan on stealing from using a fake personality. The closest thing you have to a friend is me and that guy but I know that "friend" isn't cutting it for him anymore. But you're afraid of even trying anything. They've already won because they've made you afraid of showing your face to anyone because everyone is suspicious to you."

"Tonight," Sophie muttered. "Tonight… I want to see him." She faced Kaito with a stern look on her face. "After dinner, I want to surprise him. Maybe I'll tell him how I feel, I dunno…"

Kaito lifted his hand to his heart dramatically. "Did my speech actually get through to you?"

Sophie smiled and shook her head. "No, actually. It's the fact that Crazy Aimi's been in a long term relationship that kinda made me jealous. I want to get the upper hand." Sophie formed her hands into fists and boxed the air, causing Kaito to laugh and gently push her to stop her.

* * *

"Hey Aimi," Kaito called as they walked in the door. "Come look at this dress Sophie bought! It really flatters her!"

WHACK!

"Don't do that!" Sophie whispered while laughing at his obvious attempt to rile up his girlfriend. "She's going to pop out at me with a knife and you're gonna have to clean up my blood!"

"I'm just messing with her. She'll probably just make a stupid comment about us secretly going out to dinner and then pick a fight with me. You're in the clear." He took a couple steps forward when the air in the room suddenly got colder and he wasn't met with a response. "Aimi?" he called louder. No response followed. "Annyeong haseyo!"

"Maybe they both went…" Sophie started, her voice shaking with unease.

Kaito shook his head. "Aimi wouldn't leave unless she told me where she was going first. Something happened."

Kaito and Sophie ran into their home deeper and were greeted with evidence of a burglary. The tables, blankets, pillows, and beds were all thrown around and flipped upside down. Cups were on the floor, broken glass was scattered everywhere. Sophie caught a splotch of red out of the corner of her eye and opened her mouth to scream.

"Kaito! Sophie!" Aimi ran into the house whisper yelling. They both turned around and sighed a sigh of relief, Kaito running up to her and pulling her into an embrace. "They were here," she warned. "I woke up from my nap and that girl was gone and I heard them coming. I snuck out the back entry and ran as far as I could away… she was with them. She led them here… Guys with guns and big coats."

"What?" Kaito asked in disbelief. "Are you sure?"

"I wouldn't joke about it or say it if I wasn't sure. They lingered over by her stuff. They must have been the guys… they had to have been looking for her. Then they came over by the girl's stuff and shot one of their guys there in the arm then pulled him away… I think they might have been spreading blood to make us worry about the missing girl and go look for her…"

Kaito released Aimi from the hug and grabbed her shoulders, looking her in the eyes. "Aimi, you need to calm down right now. It's not good for the baby. You're way too close to delivery to worry yourself sick. Both of us are okay." She nodded twice and began sobbing and he looked down and away from her so he could think. "Soph."

"Yes," she answered absentmindedly.

"You have to get out of here. Take your money and your things and go. You can't stay here anymore… none of us can."

She nodded and headed towards her section of the house quietly while Kaito held Aimi and tried to calm her down.

* * *

Sophie approached her bed in a zombie-like trance. She bent down, careful not to get her dress dirty, and reached for her small safe of money. She opened it up and reached inside, taking out her cash and stuffing it into her bra. While she was leaning down, she grabbed her backpack and the nearest couple of pairs of clothes, shoving them into the backpack and zipping it closed.

She stood up slowly and turned around to go say goodbye to Kaito and the calmer Aimi when her heel did not click on the cement ground, but instead was muffled by an unraveled piece of fabric on the ground. A yellow tie. She stared at the piece of clothing, considering just leaving it behind and forgetting everything about this place for her own sanity.

But instead she reached down for it and picked it up, tying it into her hair and letting it hang through her curls.

"We'll see each other again, Sophie. In another city. I just know it. Please stay safe out there."

Tonight was supposed to be the night.

* * *

Sophie's heels clicked on the pavement as she walked the streets of Inaba in silence, still dressed like she was heading to an expensive date. Despite the racing, fearful thoughts in her head, there was no fear on her face, no tears, no doubt. She just stared out emptily.

She was foolish for thinking she could have a normal life, and Kaito was foolish for suggesting it again. She was horrible for putting Aimi's life in danger over some shelter. She came between their safe space and Aimi probably would never truly forgive her deep down.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed three men standing together wearing cloaks. She froze and watched what they were doing. One of them held up a piece of paper to what appeared to be a random citizen walking the streets at night. He shook his head and apologized drunkenly. The man lowered the paper and another one turned around slowly, appearing to stare right at Sophie.

Sophie's heart stopped. The man lifted his hand above his eyes, shielding the light from the store above him to get a better look at the girl. With one single breath, she slowly turned around and headed for the nearest break in the buildings, hoping to catch the advantage again by using the alleys.

When she was out of sight of the men, she heard one of them say, "Hey guys, over there!" and she took off, the sound of her heels clacking giving away her location. She didn't care. She just needed to get as much distance between them and her as possible.

Her heart raced and her thoughts went to the darkest place imaginable. This was the closest they have ever gotten to her in the past few years. It was only a matter of time before they could sneak up on her and take her back to them.

She knew they wouldn't kill her. She's caused too much trouble. If they wanted her dead, she'd be dead already. She knew escaping guaranteed a much worse fate for her, but living under the eye of the people who murdered her parents was unacceptable.

Would they traffic her into another country as a slave? Would they prostitute her here? Would they lock her up and completely isolate her? Starve her? Torture her? Use her as a drug mule?

As she approached the light of the main streets, she turned around to see how much of a jump the men had gotten on her. At first, she saw or heard nothing. Then, the beam of a flashlight poked around the corner and shined down the direction she stood.

Sophie hoped that this main street would be much busier and offered more protection than the unoccupied streets, so she turned back around and popped out the other end.

* * *

She found herself crashed to the ground only seconds after stepping onto the open street. Muttering an apology once, even though in the back of her head it was their fault, she quickly rushed upwards and walked perpendicular to the alleyway, ignoring who or whatever she ran into.

A hand grasped her backpack and stopped her from moving. "Hang on a second!" the voice said from behind, perkily.

Out of all of the people it could have been, why did it have to be him?

Sophie yanked herself away from his grasp and turned around, her eyes tearing up. This would have been so much easier if she could never think about him again, let alone have to face him right now. "I can't hang on, I have to go. I'm sorry."

He grasped her arm when she quickly turned around again. "Go? Where are you going?" He laughed, assuming this was all a joke.

"I'm leaving," she answered, frustrated when he spun her around again. "I'm getting on the train and I'm leaving."

Sensing the frustration and growing panic in her voice, his demeanor changed and his voice began to shake with worry. "What?! You're just abandoning me like that?"

Sophie took a deep breath to clear her mind and erase the urge to punch him in the face and run off while his guard was down. This would be the last time she would see him forever, but if she didn't leave now it could be the last night she would be alive and free.

"I'm sorry," she choked out quickly. She reached out towards him and stood on her toes as much as the heels would allow. She placed her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him to her, smashing her lips onto his.

Her other hand found its way to his shoulder and he robotically placed one of his hands against her back. After a few seconds with their lips pressed together, she leaned her head upwards and kissed his upper lip, pulling away immediately.

Magenta coated his mouth and Sophie saw him swallow hard. "When…" he started, "When can I see you again?"

"Tohru," Sophie choked out, tears filling her eyes as she saw the hurt growing in his. "You can't… you can't ever see me again. They found me. They found me and they found where I lived and now I have to go. They're following me tonight and if I don't leave they'll get me! Please… I need to go."

Adachi's zoning suddenly stopped like a light bulb had lit up on top of his head. He grabbed her shoulders and stared at her for a second, then looked around at the buildings. When he spotted what he was looking for, he grabbed Sophie's arm and headed off into another alley further down the street. They stopped a few feet away from the opening of the alley and hid in the shadows.

She stared up at him and they both panted, having not only ran but having to dodge through people along the way. "Sophie," he whispered. "You can't leave tonight."

"What?" She whispered back, annoyed. "I have to. Don't you get it?!"

"No, don't be stupid! They know you're here right? So what do you think they're doing?"

"Looking for me?"

He grabbed her shoulders. "No, they're herding you. They're trying to smoke you out onto the train where they're probably waiting for you! They want you to let your guard down and think you can escape so they can get you when you think you're in the clear, don't you get it?"

Sophie looked past Adachi's head at the wall, pondering what he said. He was probably right. He's probably done these things to catch criminals before, even. If they knew where she lived, if they knew where to send the foreign girl, they were smart enough to have the entire city's exits surrounded with people.

Hopeless. Sophie felt truly hopeless. Like no matter what she did, she had already secured her fate. "What am I supposed to do," she whispered through her tears.

* * *

Adachi reached down and opened his jacket, slinging it over his shoulders. He swung his arms around her and placed it on her back. He nodded at her to put her arms in the jacket. When she did, he reached through the open front and puffed up the sleeves, hoping to add more bulk to her body. "Stay with me tonight. I can protect you and provide you shelter. They won't know where you are and they certainly wouldn't expect a cop to house you. We can talk about what to do when I get home from work tomorrow. I… I'll keep you until they leave if I have to."

In a split second decision, Adachi grabbed Sophie and pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her and quieting her breathing. The three men chasing her had walked past they alley, one with a phone in his hands, dialing with Adachi assumed to be the head of this operation. When they made it completely past, Adachi released his grasp on Sophie. "Come on," he whispered. "They're gone. Let's go the other way and they shouldn't be able to see you."

Sophie nodded, letting Adachi put his arm around her back and lead her out of the alleyway. For now, she would have to rely on someone else for her life's protection.

* * *

Sophie sat on the edge of Adachi's bed with her legs hanging off the edge.

The second she got in the apartment and the door was closed, she let go of all of the emotions bottled within her, fell to the floor, and sobbed. Adachi dropped her backpack on the kitchen floor and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her to his bed. After placing her down and handing her tissue, she blew her nose and continued to cry.

Adachi watched her for a minute, unsure of what to do. At this moment, all that he felt he could do was stand guard and protect her. But that didn't stop the hurt or the fear, and it certainly didn't stop her tears.

After another moment passed, he sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her, rubbing her back. "You're safe for now," he whispered. "I won't let them get to you."

* * *

Adachi smacked the alarm on his phone almost immediately after it went off so as to not wake the girl next to him. Although her sobbing had eventually slowed down enough for her to lay down and go to sleep, he rolled around all night having been disturbed by multiple nightmares every time he closed his eyes. He slowly crawled out of bed, being careful not to rustle the sheets too much, and headed towards his closet. He grabbed a clean pair of work pants and slipped them up, reaching then for his work shirt and putting it on, tucking it into his pants. He buttoned it up all the way and wrapped the belt around his hips. He reached for his second work jacket and put it around his shoulders when he heard the sheets crinkle behind him.

"Tohru," a voice peeped from his bed.

"Yeah," he answered, turning around nervously.

His heart broke when he saw the hopeless expression painted on her face. Her eyes were still red and puffy from last night's scare and cry-session. Her face was pale and sunken in like she hadn't eaten in days. "Please don't leave me," she croaked.

He swallowed hard and headed towards her side of the bed. He reached a hand down towards her faced and brushed it on her cheek, feeling the cold in her face. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "We might have caught the killer so I can't just call in. I won't be gone forever and I'll leave the door locked. Don't answer it for anyone, just sleep. I'll be back before you know it, okay?"

Her eyes drifted closed. "O..okay…" she muttered sadly.

* * *

"Sophie, I brought you something to eat. I don't want you to get sick."

Sophie's eyes cracked open to a very tired-looking detective holding out a plastic bag to her. She blinked and stared up at him, unwilling to move.

"You can go back to sleep after you eat but you really need to eat something. Please."

She groaned and sat up, taking the bag that said "Aiya" on the front of the bag.

Sophie ate slowly and cautiously, still a little sore from the fall the previous night, as Adachi scrambled around his apartment throwing clothes in his wash and taking a quick shower. When he headed towards her again, she handed him the garbage in the bag and laid back down, putting her back facing him.

A few minutes after, he crawled into bed next to her and faced her back, sighing as he thought about her misfortune.

She sat up and moved her pillow closer to him, scooting along with it until she was touching him. When she felt him lift his head from his pillow in confusion, she reached around and grabbed his arm, putting it around herself.

"Please hold me. Protect me," she asked.


	9. New Beginnings

Being the first time Sophie had stood up in a few days, her legs wobbled when her feet touched the ground. She considered waiting until her… whatever he was… to come back home and help her out, but her eyes and head had thought she had had far more than enough sleep and she certainly wasn't going to lay in bed all day contemplating her thoughts.

So when she regained her footing, she slowly made her way to her backpack to grab a change of clothes and headed into the shower.

Despite her miserable last couple of days, when she walked into the shower her scattered thoughts had aligned themselves and left her happily... daydreaming.

Sophie Hawthorne was alive another day. She had seen the face of her attackers and lived another day. Sophie Hawthorne was safely in shelter, real shelter, under a warm shower. The shower of a police officer that was on her side. A police officer she could trust to protect her.

She reached down to the bottle of body wash and squired some into her hands, lathering it onto her body, the aroma of sandalwood filling the air. Even though he coated himself with cheap musk on top of the earthy smell, it still brought the thought of the lanky police officer and his dorky haircut to her mind, lifting a smile to her face as she closed her eyes.

She inhaled sharply and bit her lip, feeling heat rush to them as she remembered kissing him what she thought would be goodbye. As much as she would hate to admit it, he had got her blood flowing from the moment she met him. He was not only intelligent in the stereotypical ways, but he could read people and change himself to be what he needed to be to get where he needed to go... Just like her. When she jokingly made an advance towards him, he took it one step further and somehow flipped her switch. He didn't do kissing? What a pseudo-hard-ass. All he needed was a little love from the right girl.

* * *

The front door crashed open, jolting Sophie upwards and into defensive mode until the familiar suited man made his way into the apartment, quietly and angrily storming into his bedroom to remove his work jacket and place hang it up with the rest of his clothes. Without even acknowledging the woman waiting at the food of his bed, he headed back into the kitchen. Sophie heard the refrigerator crack open, glass bottles being clanked together, a popping sound, and then the fridge being closed. Her suspicions were confirmed when Adachi stood in the doorway between the kitchen and his bedroom and leaned on the wood, tiredly staring at the girl and knocking back the glass bottle.

"Hard day at work?" Sophie asked with the most innocent look in her eyes, tilting her head to the side cutely, hoping it would cheer the man up just a little bit. After a sigh and another gulp out of the beer bottle, she figured her efforts were futile.

A slightly intoxicated, tired laugh escaped from his lips. "There's no way that kid killed those people and there's no way to prove that he did either... even with his confession. He's just a loser looking for a quick fifteen minutes of fame... So all it did was waste our time and put us back at square one."

She furrowed her brows. "So, he didn't kill any of them? Why did he say he did?"

Another few gulps out of the bottle. "He killed the Yasogami teacher. Sloppily, at that. There's fingerprints and DNA all over the body, multiple wounds caused by attempts to kill him. He's an amateur. Whoever killed the Konishi kid and the Mayumi Yamano girl was a lot slicker." She sensed he wasn't finished and continued to watch him as he drank down the rest of the bottle and threw it into the garbage can a little ways away. He shuffled his feet and entered his bedroom, sitting next to Sophie at the edge of the bed. "And then that chick detective wouldn't shut up about how we should tell the media that he's not the real killer and got herself fired."

Mental note. The Shirogane kid everyone was gossiping about is a girl. Good catch, Tohru. "Well," Sophie started, knowing whatever she would say wouldn't really make a difference. "I'm sure you guys will catch the killer soon enough... There's no such thing as the perfect crime, so they say."

"There might be in Yasoinaba where they probably couldn't catch the guy if he was standing right in front of them." He groaned and threw his head forward, catching it in his hands.

Sophie turned to look at him sulking in his palms and was struck with an idea to help him relax enough for bed. He was home awfully late...

She pulled herself off the edge of the bed and shifted so she was behind Adachi. Sophie laid one hand on each shoulder, gently cupping and releasing the tense muscles and flesh with the palms of her hands in rhythm. Left side, right side, left side, ride side… As she continued kneading at his skin, his shoulders fell to a more relaxed position and he pulled his head out of his shell, egging her to continue.

She began working her way from the shoulder onto the base of the neck, this time choosing to work the base with her thumbs and slide them up and down his upper spine and neck.

As she heard a sigh escape from his lips, a smile crawled along hers. Breathing in deeply, she closed her eyes and found herself entangled in the smell of his cheap, familiar musk cologne, now tainted with stale sweat after a long day's work… And as much as she would hate to admit it, she had grown to appreciate the smell so much that she began to feel heat rise into her chest realizing she could smell the sandalwood aroma from his skin so well because she was so physically close to him. And at the moment, even this was not close enough.

She removed her right hand from his neck and brought her lips to his skin, gently pecking at the more relaxed flesh on his neck while continuing to massage with her other hand. She dragged her kisses from the base of his neck onto his shoulder and brought her smile to his ear. One single peck on the middle of the ear turned into moving her lips to his earlobe and gently pulling it into her mouth.

A heavy sigh escaped Adachi's mouth followed by clearing of his throat.

Sophie dragged her fingertips across Adachi's back again, carefully removing them one at a time from his clothing. The bed shifted as Sophie hopped off of it and made her way towards the front of it to face Adachi.

She stood in front of him as he sat at the base of the bed, looking down as he looked up into her eyes. As his eyes were affectionately opening and closing with a small smirk planted across his lips, Sophie reached down and grasped onto his tie, pulling him upwards slightly so her lips could meet his with the slightest touch.

A smile grew on Sophie's face when he didn't push her away but instead chose to use one of his hands to grasp onto her wrist while the other reached out and held the back of her head, pulling her closer to him so their mouths could harmonize in the middle. Adachi tensed the hand on her head, gently tugging on her hair, feeling as if no matter how close she got she, too, couldn't be close enough. She parted her lips and allowed his tongue to slip into her mouth for the very first time, making her gasp gently in surprise.

As she swirled her tongue with his, feeling the smirk on his face grow as well, she was overwhelmed with the desire to be surrounded, submerged, and fully enveloped in the man. She tugged roughly on the tie, pulling him upwards and leading him backwards until they slammed into the wall behind them.

Desperate. If there were one word to describe how Sophie felt when Adachi grasped onto her waist and pulled her into him, it would be desperate. Their rhythmic kissing had morphed into sloppiness. Clicking and sloshing sounds filled the air as their mouths opened to release gentle moans and to fill each other's mouths with their own tongues, to reach and taste every inch of each other.

Despite how hot their bodies were, Sophie shivered with anticipation when she reached down through the kiss and began to pull at the collar of his shirt, loosening his tie. She pawed at his shirt buttons, pulling away from the kiss to stare down at them and try to concentrate enough to open them up. Adachi took her advice and nuzzled his face into her neck, sliding his hands up from her waste to her chest and pulling the looser-fighting shirt with.

She yelped when he nipped at her neck, quickly jolting away from the daunting task of undoing those damn buttons, giving him just enough time to slip the shirt over her arms and head. Sophie let a defeated whimper escape, pawing at his work shirt, begging him to help her out. He chuckled once and smirked, working his hands together and fully unbuttoning the shirt until Sophie could reach underneath it and grab his sides, pulling him close to her again and smashing her lips to his.

Sophie broke away from the kiss again, this time grabbing his arm and spinning them around, pulling him to his bed. She climbed up onto it and crawled onto the middle of the mattress, turning around and laying with her legs bent and spread so she could catch Adachi fumbling with his stupid brown belt at the foot of his bed. While his frustration built and he mumbled to himself, Sophie took the liberty of sliding her own shorts off and reaching her arms around to unhook and remove her bra. As he finished pulling down his pants, she shyly covered up her bare chest just before he looked over to her again.

Adachi stood dumbfounded at the sight in front of him. "Wow," he choked out. It had just occurred to him that although this isn't the first time he was in such a… compromising position with her, this is the first time he's seen so much of her skin, seen her so scared and yet have so much lust in her eyes. It was everything he expected and more. "Moov-" he squeaked, clearing his throat. "Move your arms. Now."

Sophie's eyes glittered with eagerness and excitement. She stared at his slim, yet well-toned, body from eyes to thighs, stopping to take a second look at his manhood before looking back up to his face. He stared at her with an eyebrow raised and she wasn't sure whether he was waiting for her to follow his order or for a comment after looking at him in his birthday suit. When his question was eventually met with a snort, he lunged forward and crawled on top of Sophie, pulling one arm away and pinning it down to the bed as Sophie scrambled to cover up the exposed skin with her other arm. He growled and stared angrily into her eyes when she snuck through his attempts before he could stop her, which made a smile quickly grow onto her face.

The snarl across his face softened when he realized she got a kick out of this game she played and his heart swelled in his chest. He took a deep breath, stared into her eyes, and leaned down to kiss her.

* * *

Adachi's arms were under Sophie's and wrapped around to her shoulders, pulling her as close as he possibly could as she had her hands on his back, pulling him towards her as well. Their mouths smashed together as their tongues swirled around each other, separating only long enough for a pleasured moan to escape.

* * *

Sophie and Adachi laid under the blankets, entangled in each other's warm bodies. Sophie, who was nestled in between his chest and arm, nuzzled her face into him and smiled at how cliché this must have looked. "What are you thinking about?" Sophie whispered, looking up and planting a kiss on his jaw.

"Eh?" he responded, confusion laced in his voice. Slowly, he continued. "I don't..." When no other words came out of his mouth, she smiled and closed her eyes, confirming that he was just as satisfied as she was.


	10. Cabin Fever

"Sophie," a harsh whisper scratched at her eardrums. "Hey Sophie."

The girl slowly opened her eyes and was greeted with Tohru Adachi staring at her with a blank expression on his face. "Wh-what time is it," she mumbled and slurred.

"It's time for me to go to work. I just woke you up to let you know where I was going so you didn't freak out if I wasn't here."

Sophie grumbled. "Worr-rrrk?" She shoved her face back into the pillow, muffling, "why do-o hah to go to wor?"

"To make money so I can shelter your lazy ass apparently," Adachi answered with a small laugh, ruffling the hair on Sophie's head and pushing it more into the pillow. "I'll probably be back late, so there's some cash under the bed hidden that you can use to order yourself something. That Chinese restaurant delivers quickly... but it's up to you. Just don't open the door for anyone else except me or the delivery person, got it?"

Sophie, with her head still face down in her pillow, extended her arm towards Adachi and held out a thumbs up, letting gravity control the hand shortly after and sending it crashing onto the bed. Footsteps, footsteps, door open, door closed. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

The next few hours were as uneventful as they possibly could have been. Finding herself unable to fall back asleep, she hastily got up and jumped in the shower, once again enjoying the body washes, both full and empty, scattered along the shelf in the shower. Soon enough, he would probably take her shopping and then she could add her own favorite scents to the mixture. Maybe they could even use them together...

"Focus, Sophie," she muttered to herself, shaking her head to rid herself of her sinful thoughts.

After her shower, she headed into the bedroom and turned on the TV, flipping through the small selection of channels and finding nothing but boring news stations fishing for the scoop where there is none to be found.

She made her way into the kitchen, rummaging through the empty fridge and cupboards, thinking about how the man probably could save enough money to get him out of this dump apartment if he didn't waste it all on fast food instead of real grocery shopping.

She laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling, making shapes and animals out of the paint marks that she saw above her. Once she was sure she had accounted for every possible animal on Noah's Ark, she turned onto her stomach and hung over the edge of the bed, pouting and groaning.

Succeeding her last groan was a loud rumble from her stomach, causing her eyes to widen at the sudden realization that she hadn't eaten anything yet.

"Where did he say he kept his cash?" She asked out loud at no one in particular, leaning further over the bed and praying she didn't fall...

...Of course that would be too easy, wouldn't it?

A rumble and a crash could be heard in the surrounding apartments when Sophie found herself face planting into the floor and her body tumbling after her.

A few minutes went by of Sophie considering just eating the wax on the floorboards under her face, but ultimately decided against it when another rumble alerted her of her hunger issue.

She quickly stood up and scooted forward, lifting up the sheet on Adachi's mattress and ducking her head underneath it so she could look under the bed.

Her eyes were drawn to a plain white shoebox sitting dead center under the bed. Surely, something so well-hidden would contain valuables like money, right? Becoming entirely parallel with the floor, Sophie grunted as she stretched and reached through the dark small space until she could grasp the box and pull it out.

As silly as it sounded, when she sat up on the floor and crossed her legs, holding the box on her lap, she felt a strange negative energy coming from the box. Although she never was into reading vibes, she stared at the box in wonder until she passed the feeling off as a hunger pain and ripped the lid off.

"A memories box?" A white women's blouse sat balled up and wrinkled at the bottom of the box with a single newspaper clipping sitting on top titled 'Officer loses life in shoot out with gang in residential area'.

Sophie's head thumped with a million thoughts- was this why Tohru got transferred here? Was he close to this man? Was the shirt from an ex-girlfriend from back in the city? He didn't seem to be a sentimental guy, so why did he have this box? Was there more to the shirt than met the eye?

As she reached towards the shirt, the doorbell rang, causing Sophie to jump and quickly shove the lid back on the box. She didn't order the food already, did she? Did they deliver so quickly that they preemptively place orders? Genuinely curious at the perfect timing of this interruption, she headed towards the door and opened it up, specifically disobeying Tohru's orders.

"Hey Adachi-san, I brought you some Aiy-" The voice stopped as it locked eyes with the girl opening the door. A few seconds after staring at each other in confusion, Sophie recognized the boy as the one giving the bartender a fish that day she was with Tohru and the nephew of the police officer that is Tohru's partner. "M-My apologies, Miss. I thought this was a friend's apartment."

This was Tohru's... friend? "Don't worry about it," Sophie turned her head curiously. "You have the right apartment, but he's at work right now."

After regaining his composure, he nodded his head and held out his hand holding a paper bag by the thin rope handle. "My uncle came home really late last night and said there were a lot of issues at the station, so I figured Adachi-san probably hadn't eaten either. Could you please make sure he gets this whenever he gets home?" Sophie nodded and reached her hand out to take ownership of the gift. When her hand brushed his as she reached to the handle, a "spark" traveled up from her hand to her heart, warming it and bringing a blush to her face.

Quietly, she spoke again. "I'll tell him you stopped by and make sure he eats it. Thank you for your generosity." She debated the consequences of eating it the second after the boy left and if Tohru would even notice, or care for that matter. He seemed unamused by this kid whenever they crossed paths anyway.

He nodded. "Thank you. I have to get going off to Junes now to meet up with some frie-"

"Wait," Sophie interrupted, her eyes growing large. "You're going to Junes?" She paused only long enough to hear a response. "This is going to sound strange but... if you have a minute could you take me with you? I need to meet up with someone, but I'm not allowed to go anywhere by myself." When the boy's expression turned curious, she assumed she gave off the air that Tohru was potentially holding her hostage and laughed it off. "Overprotective police officers, you know?" His uncle was an officer, he could probably relate to that.

He pulled out his phone to check the time and closed it a couple seconds after, stuffing it back into his pocket. "Sure, I have a couple of minutes if you want to get dressed."

Squeaking with excitement, Sophie thanked the boy and closed the door on him, unintentionally rudely, and darted towards the phone sitting on the kitchen counter.

She hit a few buttons and waited for the person on the other end to answer. "Hello?" she whispered into the phone. "My name is Sophie Hawthorne and a friend of mine gave me your number a while ago. We were supposed to meet up before but we had unforeseen circumstances interrupt us." Sophie pulled the phone into the bedroom where her backpack now sat and crouched down to dig through it at she talked with him.

"Ah yes," The voice sounded sophisticated yet silly with a fake British accent. "Good to hear you're alive, Miss Hawthorne. Kaito had explained everything to me. He'll be pleased to know you made it out alright."

She scoffed. "Well, I didn't exactly make it out, I'm still here in Inaba, but I have lockable shelter and a guardian now... which is actually why I decided to call you today. Are you still nearby?"

"I am still in Inaba, yes. I'm staying at the Amagi Inn. Are you interested in that job offer?"

When the man asked the question, Sophie felt a huge weight lift from her chest. "Yes," she responded happily. "If it's still available, I'd love to go over it with you. Can we meet at the food court in Junes in ten minutes?"

"Certainly. I will see you then. Be safe."

* * *

Sophie exited the apartment wearing a thick sweatshirt and a pair of baggy jeans. She pulled the hood from the sweatshirt over her head and smiled at the boy looking even more confused than he did earlier. "I'm really sensitive to the cold." He shrugged and let the answer slide despite it being almost the end of August.

* * *

"Good afternoon, Miss Hawthorne." The man stood behind one of the pulled out chairs at a round table and gestured her to sit down. He towered over Sophie even when not standing right next to each other. Large round sunglasses sat on his face, presumably disguising him from wandering eyes. His demeanor completely conflicted with Sophie's: while she sank her shoulders and disguised her body through baggy, oversized clothes and a hood, the man stood tall and proud, wearing a work suit and a wireless earpiece.

Sophie nodded once at the man and sat down, allowing him to push her in gently before slowly making his way to the spot across from her. He sat down with grace and ease, bending over only to pick up his suitcase and lay it on the table between the two. Although this was a very different scenario than the first time she had lunch with Adachi, she still felt the need to put herself in defensive-aggressive mode and spice the conversation up with attitude. "I'm sorry," she said slyly. "I don't believe I caught your name. I don't think it's fair that you know my name, but I don't know yours." When a smirk crept onto his face, she continued. "Also, you can drop the accent. I'm American. We fake that stuff all the time for fun and you sound no different."

His smirk morphed into a full out toothy smile. "Kaito said you were a stubborn one, Sophie." The words pouring out of his mouth sounded smoother and slightly deeper, throwing Sophie off her guard at how much more attractive he sounded when he took charge. "For the time being, I am John Smith. I am a business man, Sophie, so I hope you understand that my privacy and safety is of the utmost importance." He placed his hands on the suitcase's lock and cracked it open, pulling out a manila folder and placing it in front of her, laying the suitcase back down next to him. "As for the last part... I would try to refrain from calling yourself an American from now on." He opened up the folder and spun it around to face Sophie.

Almost like in the movies, a passport-like photo of Sophie was paper clipped to the corner of the envelope and a bunch of papers sat on the inside. John pulled the paperclip off and slid the photo of Sophie away, revealing a plastic card in its path. "It is impossible to find real reputable work where we can protect you without some sort of identification, so from now on you have a Basic Resident Card labelling you as a native to the country named Ayame Miyamoto."

Sophie leaned forward and stared at the photo on the card. "This isn't me, though..."

"I assure you, it is you. Of course, your hair isn't really black and we used a little bit of photo editing to emphasize the features you received from your mother, but only so much that you could use makeup to achieve the same look. Everything about you is attached to this name: fingerprints, facial recognition software, birth and school records, you name it it's on here."

"How? I mean... how did you get this?"

"Your stalkers aren't the only people with connections, you know. In fact, my brother works in the upper tiers of the citizen identification department.

Sophie slowly reached out and grabbed the card, holding it in her hands and staring at it closely. Yes, this was a black-haired Sophie, but none of the information belonged to her. She searched her mind for any traces of guilt for having to hide from her true self again, but found herself instead asking, "So what do I do when people say my hair is different?"

"Well," John began. "You could keep it the way it is, but you'll have a lot easier time passing as an authentic Japanese woman if you dyed it. You would blend in more with the crowd, which is the point, is it not?" A second passed before she nodded and when she did, he continued. "The job I'd like to offer you is simple. This store gets its shipments in twice a week and needs help loading and unloading. That would be your job. You wouldn't ever work the floor or be a cashier and you never have to interact with anyone else, keeping you out of the public eye. It is also done in the daylight so the man you happen to be staying with would be able to pick you up and drop you off if possible. Otherwise, our camouflage techniques should serve to be enough in the day. On top of this, I also have stocks that need to be moved around when I say so. I have many different accounts and can only access one at a time of course. You would get paid every two weeks with my personal job paying a pretty penny. Do these interest you at all?"

Sophie stared between the folder under her left hand and the card in her right.

* * *

Sophie closed the door of the shiny black car that John had owned behind her, turning around just to wave goodbye and then heading towards the door of Adachi's apartment. She stared at the door for a split second, remembering that she didn't take any sort of keys with her, but then remembered that she was pretty sure she didn't lock the door behind her anyway. She shifted her shopping bags up her arm and reached her hand out to the door handle, turning it and opening the door.

Adachi lunged off of the bed and bolted to the girl standing in the door way. "Where the HELL were you?!" he yelled with a tinge of worry soaking his angry tone. "I told you NOT to leave the apartment!"

Sophie stepped in and dropped her bags to the ground, closing the door behind her so the outside wouldn't be subject to their couple's spat. Already. "Well I'm SORRY, Tohru! I'm not used to being pent up in a lifeless apartment for days on end! Did you forget I've lived many years with total freedom to come and go as I please?!"

"Th-" he stuttered, realizing she was right. He grabbed her shoulders and turned the volume on his voice down, but still spoke with anger and concern. "That's not an excuse! There are people out there trying to kill you, don't you get it?! I didn't know if my apartment got broken into or if you left and either way I had no way to tell if you were coming back! Why didn't you leave a note or something if you were planning on breaking my rules?!"

"You said you were going to be home late tonight so I thought I would have plenty of time! I thought I could be back before you even noticed!"

"Yeah you probably would have been had I not forgotten my wallet in my other work pants," he muttered, staring down at the girl with a sad look in her eyes. He took a deep breath in and leaned down to kiss her lips softly, then pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry I yelled, I was so afraid someone bad hurt you."

Sophie deeply exhaled and wiggled her arms free from underneath him to wrap around his back and return the hug. "I'm sorry I snuck away... Especially with that serial killer out on top of the hunters, I should have been more careful."

"Believe it or not, I'm less concerned about the serial killer than I am about the stalkers. It's kind of like he went after controversial people that he had a personal grudge against anyway."

"Even the young girl?"

"If she wasn't being such a whore, she probably would still be around today. She didn't say this when I had taken her in for questioning either time, but apparently she led the killer and a lot of other guys on and planned on running away to meet with an older boyfriend." Adachi's voice turned sour and sly at the last few words. "But I don't want to talk about work right now, babe. What matters... is that you're safe."

A chill traveled down Sophie's spine. The tone of his voice and his words sounded sinful and snake-like, his arms wrapped around her like she was being constricted to turn into a meal.

But only for a few seconds.


	11. Pseudonym

Sophie Hawthorne slowly unbundled the towel from her head, pulling at the fabric and watching as it released her swirls of hair caught beneath the twists of the cloth. The wet and wavy mane sat pulled to the side, dripping onto her leg. She slowly turned her head upwards to face the mirror in front of her, greeting her new, black-haired image.

She leaned in towards the mirror and ran her hands through her hair, surprised at how soft it felt and thought about how much paler the deep hair made her skin look. The skin, the hair… she felt like she was looking at pictures of her mother when she was her age.

She remembered when her dad would bring out the old photographs, gushing about how beautiful she was and how he could not believe she would go for someone like him. Not that he was unattractive by any means, but he had more of a modern appeal to him whereas her mother had a traditional beauty to her.

But that was then. The images of her beautiful mother and handsome father existed only in her memories now, tainted by the last few months of their lives that were filled with drama, anger, and bad choices. Guilt and internal pain masked her father's handsome smile. Her mother's calm demeanor was destroyed, turning her into someone that wouldn't even smile at passersby in the street. And in a matter of minutes, all of it went up in flames.

"Sophie," the voice that brought her peace whispered from behind her. "I got you something that will help tie in the image… especially for occasions like tonight."

Sophie turned around to face the man, curious as to what his offer was. A beautiful blue metallic yukata hung from his arm and Sophie recognized what it was instantly, seeing her mother wear one often whenever she visited her family here, and a smile grew on her face. Washing away all of the sad thoughts of her family, she leaped up and bolted towards the man, crashing into him and wrapping her arms around his stomach. "Thank you, Tohru! It's beautiful!"

"Beautiful clothes for a beautiful girl, you know? I have to be able to show you off and I can't do that without having you wear some traditional stuff every so often. Otherwise these hicks won't even give you a second glance unless it's to mock you."

Tohru helped her tie up the yukata and took her arm at the door, which caused Sophie to feel a rush of overwhelming gratitude. Tonight she would go out and socialize. She could be herself around someone, a love interest, and not worry about who was stalking her. She turned her head to face him, admiring his sharp, thin jaw and the bored expression he always had on his face and she smiled.

* * *

Despite living in this city for a while already, Sophie was taken aback at how many people attended this festival, completely surrounding her throughout her walk through the area. Feeling like she was swimming against the crowd, she grabbed ahold of Adachi's hand for comfort and took a deep breath, afraid of sticking out like a sore thumb and having to run away. "You know," Adachi started, "you don't have to be so nervous. Everyone here is going to be focused on themselves and the food." He was right. She realized he tended to be that way.

* * *

"M-mister Officer Adachi sir," a small voice questioned from below. Instantly recognizing the voice, he looked down to peer into the pig-tailed daughter of his coworker.

"Nanako-chan?" He released his grip on Sophie's hand and kneeled down to be at eye level with the girl. "What are you doing here alone? Where's your dad?"

Nanako looked at Sophie standing next to him and didn't respond, choosing instead to move closer to the man. "Dad's at work… I came here with Big Bro and his friends. I wanted to play hide and seek but they couldn't find me and now I can't find them. Am I in trouble?"

Adachi kneeled down to be at eye level with the distraught and smiled. "Of course you're not in trouble, Nanako-chan. In fact, I'm going to make you so tall that you can see over everybody else and you can help find your cousin, okay?" When the little girl nodded, he turned around so she could climb onto his back. Once she was on, he shifted her weight and secured her legs through his arms while he stood up.

Nanako smiled and giggled. "I can see so many people up here!"

"You don't mind, do you?" Adachi asked Sophie who was standing silently to the side. "She is my boss' daughter after all. I kind of have a sworn duty to protect her."

Sophie smiled at the small girl on her boyfriend's back in an attempt to lessen her nerves and warm the small girl up to her. "Of course I don't mind."

Although Nanako was very shy, Sophie spent the new half hour trying to make small talk wherever she could. Eventually, Nanako had climbed down from Adachi's back and walked inbetween the couple, holding hands with the both of them. Whenever the bright-eyed little girl turned to look at Sophie and exclaim some exciting news, like how cool some of the booths were and how delicious some of the food tasted, Sophie's heart warmed at the blissful innocence of the young happy girl.

* * *

"Nanako!" an older man's voice shouted from afar. The little girl looked up from the rice ball she was munching on in her hands when she heard the voice, trying to find out where it came from.

"What's wrong, Nanako-chan?" Adachi asked. "Are your dad senses tingling?" He grunted when Sophie elbowed him in the ribs for the awful joke.

Nanako nodded. "I think I heard him. He should be around here somewhere!"

Adachi's suave persona leaped out the window when a very familiar hand landed on his shoulder, causing him to stiffen up and raise his voice an octave. "H-hey, boss!" he peeped out without even turning around to look.

Nanako gasped excitedly and spun around to look at the man behind Adachi. "DADDY!" she yelled and headed towards him. The tall, dark-haired man removed his hand from Adachi, causing him to sigh of relief and Sophie to snort, and open his arms out to pull his daughter into them.

Approaching the man was the boy that walked Sophie to Junes and his group of friends. "You found her," the silver-haired one announced. "I knew she wouldn't be somewhere by herself."

Nanako nodded in her dad's arms. "Mhm! I know I'm supposed to stay right where I am if I ever get lost and a grownup will come find me, but I saw daddy's work friend and thought it would be okay if he helped me. His friend is really nice and pretty, too."

Confused and clearly unaware of Sophie's presence, the man finally looked at the girl standing next to Adachi quietly. When they met eyes, he laughed gently. "I see, so this must be the girl that's put my bozo co-worker in such a good mood recently."

"Oh," Sophie humbly muttered, "I'm sure that's not true…"

Adachi cleared his throat. "This is my boss, Dojima-san. And she is my girlfriend… uh-"

"-Miyamoto Ayame," Sophie interrupted before her boyfriend made more of a fool of himself. She quickly assumed the position of assertive girlfriend to crush any suspicious tones in Adachi's voice before he blew her cover. Dojima looked like serious business. "Pleasure to meet you," she said, holding out her hand for Dojima to shake.

"And the same to you. Thank you both for helping my daughter out when the youngest one of my nephew's group decided to play Hide and Go Seek, not knowing how good she is at it…"

"I could have found her if you gave me five more minutes," a young voice shouted from the back of the boy's posse.

"Anyway, we're going to head home. It's getting close to her bedtime. I hope she didn't ruin your night together or anything."

"Absolutely not," Sophie smiled at the little girl who began to grow worried. "She was an angel and I would love to see her again."

The groups said their goodbyes, but as the rest of the high schoolers' group turned around and walked away, the chestnut-haired boy paused and stared at Sophie with a scowl on his face for a few seconds before leaving to catch up with the rest of the group.

* * *

"Apparently people used to be really into this shrine long before I came here, but as time went on people became more wrapped up in their own lives and stopped visiting. Or so I've heard."

Sophie smiled and sat down at the steps. "You don't seem the religious type."

Adachi tucked his hands in his pockets and took a deep breath, sitting down. "I'm not, really. I can still observe the difference between city life and country life."

The couple had spent their last hour rummaging through the stands and trying at all of the games they could. Sophie tried a wider variety of food samples than she ever had before while her date had taken advantage of the free alcohol samples at a few booths. Perhaps it was nerves mixed with the crowd, but his cheeks began to flush while his forehead started to sweat heavily and Sophie suggested they step away from the center of the party for a while so Adachi could take a breather.

"If I tell you something, will you promise not to be mad," Sophie asked quietly, her hands in her lap.

"I mean I can't really make any promises but shoot." At least he was honest.

"The night that you saw me all dressed up… I was actually heading to meet with someone about a job offer. He was going to help me change my life so I could be here happily for a while and not have to steal. The last he had heard from the group looking for me, they weren't anywhere close by and he thought they wouldn't have ever picked me up here."

"Why are we talking about this now?"

"Well… do you remember that day I came back to the apartment and we got into that fight?" He nodded. "I went to see him. That's where I got the name from. He put me in the system as Ayame. He told me to dye my hair. He helped me out. And… he wants me to work for him… under strong supervision of course." She paused and waited for Adachi to interject, but she continued when he remained silent. "I thought I would take it… it would let me get out of the apartment when you're busy and it'll help me earn some money… and who knows, maybe we can save up together and move somewhere el-"

"The states."

Sophie furrowed her brows in confusion and turned to her boyfriend who was leaning back on the stairs. "I'm sorry?"

"I put in a transfer application a few days ago. I'm bored with this life. The people's voices give me a headache, the scenery makes me sick. If I get accepted we can get work visas or something and apply for citizenship and get the hell out of here. Go forward and never look back, you know?"

"You… you want me to come with?"

"I thought that was obvious. I just didn't tell you sooner because I figured you'd pull the 'wahh I don't want you being my sugar daddy when you can barely afford dinner' thing. Now I don't have to worry about it."

Sophie stared into Adachi's eyes, looking for boredom but only finding admiration and a smile on his face. She smiled back at him and leaned onto his shoulder. "Nanako-chan is adorable."

"She most certainly is. She's a quick learner too. When I have a daughter, I hope she's like her."

Sophie snorted in surprise. "YOU actually want kids? You don't seem the type…"

"Heh. Every arrogant man wants offspring so he can bring a million clones of himself into the world."

"Sure, Tohru."

* * *

"What perfect timing to leave! Can you imagine, if we had left any earlier we would have completely missed that!" Adachi stopped to hold his stomach and take a deep breath, stopping his laughing-at-misfortune fit.

"I wish we would have been there just a little bit sooner so I could have heard what made that woman so hostile!"

"I didn't even think cat fights existed in this shithole town! It probably was something stupid like the other girl took the last kebob and butterball didn't get to shove it down her throat."

"She whacked her hard though! It couldn't have been over something that stupid!"

"You doubt the people here?"

"I guess you're right, people *are* self-"

Sophie was interrupted mid-sentence when Adachi quickly disappeared from her side and pulled her into a gap between two buildings. When they were cleared of the main road, Adachi pressed her against the wall of one of the buildings and pressed his lips to hers. It only took a few seconds for their lips to open, encouraging the other to kiss them deeper and make the heat rise through their skin. Sophie removed her arms from her sides and slowly wrapped them around Adachi's neck, resting one of them along his head where she could rub her hands through his hair.

A growl came from his chest, bringing a smirk to her face. After one more nip at her bottom lip, he pulled away from the kiss and angled his head downwards, nestling himself against her neck where he began to gently suck at her skin. He removed one of his hands from her waist and leaned down to pull her leg up, sliding his hand up the underside of her thigh and past the end of the yukata…

Adachi yelped at how quickly her hand was able to remove itself from his neck and pull his hand away from her, releasing her leg back onto the ground. "Oh, come on," he hissed into her ear, "You know you like it…" His stupid voice was so enticing and encouraging she had to stop herself from letting him continue.

She cleared her throat so she could speak with confidence. "Not in public where anyone can see us, I don't…" She had to stick to her guns, even though the thought of sneaking around and not getting caught did get her blood pumping… not that she would ever let him know that.

He pulled himself away from her so he knew she could see all of his face… the face that had contorted into droopy eyes, a pouty lip, and a blush across his nose and cheeks.

Sophie smiled and shook her head, embarrassed at this gently drunken dork standing in front of her. She removed her other hand from his head and used it to hold onto both of his hands so when she kissed him again, he wouldn't try anything funny. When she pulled away, she released her hands from his, letting him feel freedom again. "You won't die waiting until we get to the apartment, you know."

"You don't know that," he laughed. "Didn't you hear there's a serial killer on the loose?"


	12. Heaven

Regardless of the day or time, whenever Sophie Hawthorne was around Tohru Adachi, she felt at home. Sometimes she would greet him with morning cuddles before work, and sometimes he would greet her with cake in the face after dinner. They would laugh together and cry together. They would bicker and they would kiss and make up. To Sophie, Tohru's devious smile and sneaky voice he would use when proving someone wrong brought warmth all the way to the pit of her stomach. The childish, ignorant character he played around his boss and other supervisors made the cheesiest smile grow on her face- so much that she began to play the part of bossy dominatrix around him. Their life, their relationship, their path was... normal. A word Sophie was not familiar with.

Cycles, routines, habits... all of these things are normal to normal people. In fact, routine is one of the things people naturally strive for in a healthy life- from medicine to sleep. If anyone would have told Sophie Hawthorne a year ago that she would be one of those normal people, she... probably would have taken your money when you weren't looking. But she would have laughed at you beforehand. Routine was normal, and her life was nowhere near it.

And yet, she sat at the small table in her police officer boyfriend's small apartment eating (breakfast) before heading out to another short day at work. From there she would head home and keep herself busy with apps on her phone, cleaning, or playing on the computer until he would come home too so they could eat dinner together.

The same as every day.

Or... at least that was the plan.

"Hey... Tohru, it's Soph. Just calling for the seventeenth time wondering where you are." The worried tone in her voice had kicked in approximately fourteen calls ago and she hadn't moved from her vertical spot on the bed in fear of her legs giving out. "I just want to make sure you're alright. Please call me when you can." She closed the flip phone and placed it on her chest, taking a deep breath.

There were a few ways this could go. First possibility, he could be working late. Perhaps they got a lead on the serial killer, or maybe even a lead on the hit and run that turned her boyfriend's coworker into a widow. Second possibility, he went out drinking with the team and completely forgot how to use his phone. Possible, but unlikely. Third possibility, her stalkers have taken him in an effort to get to her and he is currently in danger.

Sophie swallowed the lump in her throat and took a deep breath, hoping to digest her fear and remain calm. In reality, what was the likeliness of catching a police officer, right?

"Right..." she muttered to herself for reassurance. She took another deep breath. Was she remembering to breathe at all when she wasn't breathing deeply?

Bzzt bzzt... bzzt bzzt... bzzt bzzt...

The vibrating phone on her chest caused her to jump, breaking her out of her panic spell. She quickly removed the phone from its resting place and opened it up, placing it to her ear. "Tohru, what happened? Are you alright?" She had hoped the panic-driven tone of her voice would cause him to be a little bit more considerate next time he decided to stay out late.

Adachi stood in the main waiting area, thankful for once that there was nobody around. "Yeah yeah, I'm fine," he muttered quickly. Sophie could sense the slight anxiety in his voice. Before she got the chance to ask, he continued. "But Nanako-chan... there was an accident and she was kidnapped by the serial killer." Sophie's heart felt like it stopped beating for a minute as she sat up quickly. "We got her back now... but she's in really bad shape. She might not make it... I don't know how long I'll be down here but if you want to sto-"

"I'll go beg the neighbor for a ride to the hospital," she reached down to her heart and listened for her own heartbeat, making sure she was still awake and not in a horrible nightmare. When she realized she was very much awake, the realization of what was happening dawned on her and she had to fight back tears. "I'll be there shortly, Tohru. Keep an eye on Dojima-san."

* * *

When she arrived at the hospital, she was shocked to see the entire Inaba police force crawling around with gloomy expressions on their faces. Immediately fearing the worst, she headed up to the ICU where she assumed the small child was. By the time she made it up the stairs, however, two of the friends of the silver-haired boy came bolting down the stairs sobbing, almost pushing her down them. She turned to scold them as they ran past her, but swallowed the lump in her throat when she thought about why they were probably crying.

And she was right. She made it up to the area everyone stood in right as an incapacitated Detective Ryotaro Dojima aggressively pumped the wheels on his wheelchair attempting to make it to the room Nanako was staying in. Just the thought of seeing such pain on his face while her boyfriend stood next to the door sullenly and the angry blonde kid punched the wall made her head spin and her stomach twist.

She realized he didn't get to say goodbye that night. She felt a familiar sense of solidarity with the man. So much so that when he barged out of the room and headed towards the room of the kidnapper, she almost wished her boyfriend wouldn't have tried to stop him. She knew the law could punish, but could never erase the pain of loss.

* * *

Sophie let her unbrushed new pitch black hair fall around her shoulders as she slumped forward from the chair into her hands. The night had been rough. From that poor little girl dying and having to watch someone who always had a grimace on his face collapse into hopelessness as he held his lifeless daughter's body to having her revived but still in poor condition... a roller coaster of emotions would be an understatement. She chose to remove herself from the hospital room and wait in the main waiting area while everyone else made their rounds. She needed the silence.

The entire waiting room area was unlit with non-emergency visiting hours having ended more than three hours ago. It was not completely dark, however, with the lights from the outside reflecting out the snow and pouring moonlight into the large windows planted around the room. It would be a beautiful photograph if it wasn't seen in such terrible circumstances. The security of the building surrounded by police officers where she could be alone was shockingly comforting for her.

She turned her head upwards slightly when she heard noise come out of the hallway where the stairs were. It was habit at this point. She was prepared to return to her hand cave when she heard the young detective say something that caught her attention.

"If he didn't do it, then who did? If we don't find that out, all we are doing is letting a murderer run free."

"You're right, Naoto." She recognized that voice the most, the kind-of-friend to her boyfriend slash the cousin of the young girl. "It's obvious he did the kidnapping... But we really need to look at the possibility of an accomplice."

"Mm. If there was someone, it was probably someone slimey and manipulative. Someone that could have wrapped someone into something that caused that man to hurt someone he loved. Someone who would have seen Ms Yamano."

"Who would have had the time and ability to take her from where she was hiding at the Amagi Inn? The place was surrounded with paparazzi."

"The same type of person that would have been able to sneak in and out without raising suspicion... but who..."

Sophie blinked rapidly, suddenly suffering shortness of breath as the boy and girl walked out the front entrance to talk outside. A very slight dizzy spell washed over her as a very faint memory found its way back to her.

 _"Rich bitch," Adachi scoffed. "She got the most expensive room in the whole damn Amagi Inn. And then when she got murdered in it, it cursed the whole area. She must have loved the attention, though. If she didn't, she probably would have tried to hide her presence a little bit better by getting a small, hidden room, wouldn't you think? I mean I'm sure the small rooms are just as usable as the massive one was."_

 _"Do you go to the Amagi Inn often, Tohru?" Sophie asked, turning her head like a puppy. "You know so much about it."_

 _He laughed cockily, sounding like it was coming from deep within. "No, I don't really go there ever. I have no need to, I'm not into that traditional crap most people here are."_

She furrowed her brows. Why was this conversation so prominent in her head right now? And who would he have possibly gone to the expensive room with? Why would he have gone there if he said he hated traditional things? How was he sure she slept in the expensive room? How was he sure that's where she was murdered? Does he know something more than what he's telling people?

"Hey," a strained voice announced as its owner put his hand on her shoulder. When his fingers made contact with her skin, she jumped, having been startled, and squeaked loudly. She turned to look at the man standing behind her and find out the meaning behind it. "It's getting late. Let's head home for the night. We can always come back tomorrow."

When he removed his hand, her feeling of being startled had sunken into a feeling of fear and despair.


	13. Hell

On a normal night, Tohru Adachi would toss and turn at least once an hour while still remaining entirely asleep. Sophie wasn't sure whether it was caused by nightmares or just general restlessness and pent up energy from being bored in the boonies, but it woke her up at least half of the time. Tonight, however, he did not kick, roll around, or push and pull the blankets on and off. Instead, he remained entirely on his side with his arm wrapped around Sophie and the same old cocky grin on his face. She was sure of it.

Unfortunately, despite the absence of restlessness that she would have loved any other night, she lay with her back to the man staring out the break in the curtains with a feeling of unease and despair washing over her.

It was a funny feeling to her: the feeling of connecting with someone you barely know. The feeling of immediate attraction. The feeling of letting your guard down and not getting hurt. The feeling of mutual disdain for humankind and their selfish, egotistical ways. But right now, despite the arm around her waist, she felt nothing but disconnect.

When his morning alarm went off, she closed her eyes and pretended to sleep as the man crawled over her and kissed her on the cheek before crawling out of bed and getting dressed. In the back of her mind, she wondered if she was overreacting and just trying to shelter herself from the natural pain of human relationships... if everything could be explained if she just kept a little bit of hope.

He whispered his goodbyes and headed out the door, leaving only a gentle click of the lock in his place; she would remain in her spot until a fair amount of time had passed so there wouldn't be any unexpected interruptions from the sometimes forgetful police officer.

In the time that passed, her mind had gone a thousand places. She didn't know what she would find or even if she would find anything incriminating. In all honesty she didn't even know what she was looking for or what she was trying to prove. Nothing made any sense to her except her overwhelming feeling that he was hiding something from her.

 _'If she wasn't such a whore, she'd still be around today.'_

Accusatory.

When did she get on the floor reaching under the bed?

 _'It's kind of like he went after controversial people that he had a personal grudge against anyway.'_

Sympathetic. Apologetic?

She placed aside the box she found previously and reached her hand underneath again for... something that might not even exist.

 _'Whoever killed the Konishi kid and the Mayumi Yamano girl was a lot slicker.'_

Complimentary. ...For someone who hates other people.

She gasped when she placed her hand on another smooth surface, reaching her fingers to what she assumed was the lid and pulling out another box around the same size as the first one. She gently lifted it off the ground and placed it on her lap, realizing this one was heavier than the first one. Taking a deep breath, she removed the cover.

An already discoloring article titled 'Famed Anchor Yamano Mayumi Found Murdered' in big bold text sat at the top of an assorted pile of things, complete with a headshot and a date of birth. She blinked twice. In all reality, it wasn't that abnormal to keep tabs on all of the big cases you worked on. This could just be the most recent in a pile of things name-worthy enough to stick on a resume... If it wasn't for the nagging in her head and her sour stomach, she would have closed the box up and left it at that... but she continued on anyway.

Nestled below that was a small stack of articles, the first being a little bit more wrinkled, titled "City Councilman Resigns After Affair With Announcer". As Sophie lifted up the pieces of paper, it was like she was travelling back in time. "Rumors of Affair Bring Down Anchor's Fame", "Mayumi Yamano for Anchor of the Year", "Mayumi Yamano- The Hottest Anchor of Today"... and ending with "Mayumi Yamano. Potential Star?" sitting atop another white bundled up piece of clothing. She glanced through the stack of articles she now had collected in her hands and found herself staring at the same angle of this now deceased woman in different photos.

Obsessive.

She closed her eyes and swallowed hard, realizing she was expecting the worst.

 _'I'm less concerned about the serial killer than I am about the stalkers.'_

His words ran through her head over and over again. Why? How? The police couldn't protect her from the serial killer. She had top notch security and had to have been sent a body guard and that still didn't stop the killer from getting her. The stalkers were outsiders, most of them outside of their territory. Despite the threat they held to Sophie herself, they couldn't actually do anything in front of a cop.

In front of a cop.

A body guard.

 _'They had me check on her while the rest of them dispersed the paparazzi. Let the new guy deal with the distressed woman while we sit back and guard the building. A whole lot of good that did them.'_

Sophie glanced down at the remaining article of clothing in the box and blinked before pushing it to the side and pulling her knees up to her chest.

Betrayal. It was a feeling Sophie was all too familiar with and refused to subject herself to feeling again until she let this man walk into her life. The pained look on her mother's face when she cornered him and demanded to find out what was happening, the feeling of having your entire life and everything you thought you knew crumble beneath you... And she let it happen again.

The man she had fallen in love with, despite all the warning signs, was an accomplice to murder. Or maybe even the murderer. Who even knew what else he could be.

He was smart and manipulative. He could get everything he wanted, including Sophie, and convince anyone of anything. She had seen his personas flash across his face as he decided which angle to take. He was dangerous. He wasn't necessarily physically strong but he had the entire justice system on his side with a bias. He was hungry for revenge. She still didn't know what really happened that sent him to this city, but he was convinced he was undeserving of such punishment.

 _'...in Yasoinaba where they probably couldn't catch the guy if he was standing right in front of them.'_


	14. Shattered

She didn't have a reason why she didn't leave immediately. She didn't have a reason why she approached him when he arrived home from work that day. She didn't really know why she would confront him, evidence in hand, when he closed the fridge with a beer in his hand. Maybe she wanted to be proven wrong, or maybe she was probing him to see if he would prove her right. Nothing really made sense anymore.

She could say she was sick of running. And yes, she could say that in her head a million times. "She was sick of running and living this way"... and then she would wake up the next morning and do it all over again. But this time was different. She hadn't been physically running from anyone in quite a while, much to her satisfaction. But she had, however, been running away from the nagging voice in her head every time her beloved new life partner made a comment that sent a chill down her spine. Much too often she excused his words for harmless, jealous banter that identified a man with wounded pride and an unsuccessful life. But now... she couldn't run from it any longer. She had to know.

So she made up her mind. She waited on the edge of his bed in silence, organizing her thoughts and waiting for him to arrive home. After what felt like days, the familiar rattling of the slightly broken lock followed by the click of the door echoed through the air. He himself chose not to speak once he entered, instead heading straight to the fridge and clanking around a few bottles of beer before finding the exact one he wanted and cracking it open. She took the time he was drinking it to stand up and approach the man being hidden by the refrigerator door. Now she was here and now there was no turning back.

A simple "hey" escaped his lips and no more than a beat had passed before Sophie held her hands out to a handful of the news articles from his collection. He froze in awe with his eyes locked onto the small pieces of paper and Sophie could have sworn the battle had already been won.

Then again, this was Tohru Adachi she was dealing with.

"I didn't take you for the jealous or paranoid type," he sneered, pulling his smile into a sneaky grin. "I do have to say though that if you're suggesting I'm the one she's having an affair with, you have ab-so-lute-ly nothing to worry about. That was... the first victim of the serial killer." His sickeningly sweet expression could not mask the firmness in his eyes, annoyed that this subject would even come up at a time like this. He was cracking so easily.

She saw his poor attempt at feigning innocence and still refused to speak, instead placing the clippings down on the countertop next to his beer and pulling out a golden pin with the roman numeral "III" on it, slowly moving it from its hiding spot to the pile of paper and following his eyes as he glanced down to it and then back at her, becoming slightly irked at this silly game she seemed to be playing. "It was you," she choked out as she held back tears, "wasn't it?" As the words poured out of her mouth, she felt her heart drop into her stomach. It was one thing to think it, even to be convinced mentally... but saying it out loud made it real.

He forced out an overdramatic sigh in an attempt to make her seem like she was being unreasonable. He still had a chance to win this game before it even got started. "What are you talking about," he responded with his voice low and bored. A rhetorical question, of course, but one that Sophie would answer anyway.

"Those girls... they're dead. They're dead and you have their things..." Before he had arrived home, she attempted to prepare herself for this moment so she could keep a cool, level head, but instead she found herself grasping for words and swallowing the urge to burst into tears. "That's her pin, isn't it?"

Her words rang through his ears, causing his lip to curl ever so slightly at the reminder of his actions a few months prior. She was getting warmer, and he had to tread lightly if he didn't want to end up sleeping alone tonight. Carefully, he brought his left hand up to his head and brushed it through his hair, innocently closing his eyes. "Come on, Sophie," he started in his playful tone, "is this some kind of a riddle? You know I'm not good with those!" He reached his right hand out to her, grasping onto her arm just a little too tightly for comfort.

She yanked her arm away and kept her voice low as the tears started to fall, grasping tightly on the place he just had his hand. "You killed those girls... didn't you? You murdered them."

He turned his head to look at the wall next to him. A scowl began to burn onto his face. "Tch."

She took a deep breath and spoke low and slow, raising her voice as she went on, losing the control she tried so hard to keep. "You let me open up to you... You let me tell you about my family... and how they were murdered... and you comforted me about it. But you're just a murderer like those men and you lied to me!"

Only a second of silence passed before Adachi lunged after Sophie, his suit jacket smacking into the beer bottle on the counter and sending it pummeling to the ground. He reached one hand to the back of her head and used it as leverage to press his other hand firmly against her mouth. "Will you be quiet?! You don't know anything!"

His calm, cocky demeanor shattered like the bottle as it hit the floor, revealing a devilish smirk and wide, senseless eyes that seemingly hungered for blood.

It was at this moment when she actually felt that this man was dangerous, and with his hand pressed right up to her mouth, smashing her lips into her face, she opened her mouth and bit down on the flesh of his fingers, sending him backwards just enough for her to break free.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and breathed deeply to give herself air to talk as the man shook off his bite wound. With his violent actions, her despair had morphed into anger, sending a whole new school of thoughts through her head. "You didn't even... personally do it, did you?! There was no blood, no DNA... they didn't even suspect you for a second. You couldn't even kill them yourself, could you?! You had someone else do it because you're a coward that gets off on causing other people pain!"

Anger rushed to his face and he lunged after her again, missing her as she dodged away from him in a last-ditch effort to make it to the door. As she grasped onto the handle, he wrapped his arms around her from behind and lifted her in the air, sending her into screaming hysterics. Dragging her into his room as she struggled to get free, he threw her down on his bed face first and used one hand to press her face into the fabric while the other pinned her hands behind her back. He let out an evil, mischievous laugh signaling that all his sanity was gone before he spoke. "All of you kids act like you're so smart and mature by saying things that make you seem more powerful than your superiors..." He pressed his hand into her head more, causing her to flinch in pain. "Frankly, it's disgusting... It's disrespectful. I'm going to make you... suffer... until you apologize."

He pulled her up by the shoulder and pinned hands and dragged her in front of the TV, wasting no time before he shattered all sense of reality as Sophie knew it and shoved her head straight into the screen, her hands wiggling around in his hands to break free and grasp on to something, anything structural.

He laughed maniacally again and exhaled dramatically. "Isn't this wonderful? All I have to do is... push you in a little further, and you'll end up just like those girls you were obsessing over. You just couldn't leave well enough alone cou-"

Adachi was interrupted mid-Villian-success speech when she used one of her dangling legs to collapse his knee just enough for her to reach her leg back and kick him away. His balance extremely thrown off, he was thrown backwards, landing straight onto the coffee table and shattering it underneath him.

As soon as she did not feel his hand's pressure on her head anymore, she pulled herself free from the TV screen with her hands on the bottom edge of the TV and regained her balance, turning around to catch the police office at an extreme disadvantage caught in the table.

Sophie started to run past him when he choked out a sinister laugh, stopping her in her tracks and turning her around in the doorway to the kitchen, hoping for any sense of personal redemption. An apology, an explanation, anything.

"Where are you going to go," he asked maliciously. "You have no one to run to. It's only a matter of time before you get picked off... just like your parents. You're gonna leave this protection... this *life* behind because of some skeletons in my closet?" When she didn't respond, he continued. "I'm sure you have some too. You don't get this far running away from a gang or a mafia without them."

Suddenly, the reality of the situation began to sink in and her face scrunched in confusion. He somehow had her almost... inside of the television? How was that even possible? What would have happened if he pushed her all the way in? Is that what really happened to those other girls? Was this all some sort of stupid dream?

"I can't..." the man muttered with serenity and pain dripping in his voice. "I can't change what I did... Please..." Silence. "I love you..."

Sophie shook her head and turned back around, ignoring the man's reaching hand towards her as she headed out the door.

Distraught at his failed attempt in wooing the girl, he furrowed his brows and yelled with every ounce of anger he could muster up. "You're going to die out there!" he shouted, making sure she could hear before she closed the door and continuing even when she was gone in a futile attempt to intimidate her, "I'm not going to be here when you come running-" he lowered his voice, choosing not to waste his breath on someone who couldn't hear his words anymore. "Oh man..."


	15. Run

Those jail cells they show in the movies? The ones with metal objects scattered everywhere and a cement foundation? The ones that look like an angst-ridden teenage girl would come up with in her mind to express how cold and dead everything around her was? That's not what they're really like... At least not at my precinct.

Thanks to the lack of bare cement and scattered metal, the jail itself wasn't cold and lifeless. There was a table to sit at, a small bed with a fair amount of blankets to sleep on, the sink wasn't dripping, and there was even a small rug coming out of the bathroom cubby. If I didn't want to leave this shit hole so badly, I would even go as far as to say that it's nicer than some people's normal living situations. Excluding all the pretentious police officers and their 'holier-than-thou' attitudes breaking the law as they try to get more information out of me, of course.

I gave them all I could. It was time for my little game to end anyway. That's all life is anyway... a series of games that we win or lose at.

That day, I woke up and did the same old thing as usual. Go to the bathroom, eat breakfast with the rest of the prisoners, get taken in for questioning, get punched in the face, and then head back to my cell and keep myself occupied waiting for dinner. Sometimes that bratty kid would come in and try to talk to me as if we were friends... as if he didn't completely overpower me when he's ten years younger than me. And sometimes my old partner would come in with his daughter, explaining to her what I did was wrong and having her try to understand what possibly could have ended that drunken dork in jail. That day, however, Dojima-san came in by himself with a grave look in his eyes.

It was strange that I wasn't expecting it. If anything, when I saw him walk in, I thought something had happened to his "hero" nephew or his magically recovered daughter. Nope. Instead, he sat on the other side of the thick glass wall and told me he would have told me sooner, but they couldn't get an ID on the body until they sent it through the international database and got a match. They had found Sophie Hawthorne dead.

Murdered.

He rambled on about the "criminal background" on Sophie's file- wanted for murder of her parents, wanted for grand theft... all of the things her stalkers had put on her file to get her back to the states if she was ever captured... things I was already painfully aware of.

It was hard to pay attention to him. The whole world felt like it was spinning. Where my heart should have been (you know, if I had one) felt swollen and heavy, like I had just been shot while wearing a bulletproof vest. I wish I would have been emotionally capable of crying, rather than sitting there and letting the news burn on every inch of my body inside and out.

Out of all the women in the world, all the *people* in the world, she was one of the few that did not deserve to die.

After his long rambling spiel that I'm pretty sure he participated in just to avoid an awkward silence (and therefore having to try to console me), he told me she had no living relatives and would naturally be cremated and thrown away, but had put in a request to have the urn sent to me so she wouldn't be entirely forgotten to the world. He apologized one last time and was on his way, probably not too comfortable with handling the deaths of loved ones still. I thanked him for the first time for stopping by.

Unsurprisingly, I dreamt of her that night. I dreamt of her equally cynical ways, I felt her warm fingers on my skin, I felt the warmth of her laugh succumb me, I felt her warm body pressed up against me at night, I felt her scorching tongue intertwine with mine… and then I saw her float away, solemn expression extinguishing the fire in her eyes.

Since then, I have felt nothing but cold.

/

Play.

"Thank you for coming in here today Mister Hampton... without your lawyer." The detective placed her folder onto the table, pulling up a set across from the man in handcuffs and sitting down in between the two standing police officers behind her. "Just so you're aware, we do have cameras up there," she pointed directly at the viewer, "so we can film this for testimonial evidence. If at any time you don't wish to say anymore, you are free to not answer. However, with your full cooperation we can get closer to a full acquittal for you." The man in the handcuffs nodded. "Excellent. Now, just to get right into why we came here today. You witnessed the murder of John Dalton, correct?"

"Yes," the man muttered with shame laced in his voice. "That is correct."

"Do you mind going into detail for us? What started the event that led to his murder?"

The man shifted in his seat, remaining quiet for a minute or so while the detective sat perfectly still with her eyes fixated on the man in front of her.

"You're gonna protect my family, right? You aren't just... gonna throw me out onto the streets, are ya? Do you know what they do to rats? To their families?"

"Sir, we already have your children and your wife in protected care and we will work on relocating and protecting you once the trial is over. That is our promise to you." The woman had an incredible amount of self-control.

His handcuffs jingled when he placed his hands to his face and rubbed his eyes. "A pretty big group of us were following that girl. We saw her living with that police guy, so we had to lay low. But we had guys all over the place. We knew from her previous escape she was careful, but impulsive too. So we just waited for her to be alone.

And then we saw her. She was walking to the train station without a coat or a purse or anything. We had one of the Japanese guys in the group go up to her and offer her money for a ticket because she would have caught on if one of us Americans was there. But she was vulnerable and it worked. Then when he went on the train with her, we drove to the stop the train was making further along and waited for her. We waited for her to get off the train and walk into an abandoned area and Rodriguez knocked her out."

"With chloroform?" The detective questioned.

He man nodded, finally moving his hands away from his face and placing them on the table in front of him. "John was sick of chasing after this girl, but he was afraid if he let down his guard she would go to the police. He knew if he captured her, she'd probably escape again. So he had us take her to one of the open fields between cities and dump her there. In the van she woke up and started freaking out. One of the new guys took out his knife and got her in the side to shut her up which made Johnny mad because he didn't want any evidence around. Then I knocked her out again with the towel and shit so she'd stop screaming." He moved his hands through his hair, holding his head in distress. "We took her to some abandoned field and threw her in the middle of it. The guys started pouring gasoline everywhere...

And then Johnny being the cocky, dramatic sonofabitch that he is... he went up to her when she started opening her eyes. I was right there, pouring the gas on top of her, and he said 'tell your father I said hello'. And the crazy bitch said 'tell him yourself' and she yanked the knife Rodriguez left in her side and fuckin stabbed him in the throat with it!"

"Did you try to move him or get him to safety?"

"Nah, man. All of us took off... we didn't really realize what was happening. All of us were more concerned about saving our own asses and getting the hell out of there. My wife was pregnant, you know? We didn't know what else that girl was gonna do."

"So what you're saying is the girl, Sophie Hawthorne, caused the injury that killed John Dalton, and Dalton himself..."

"Would have killed her, had Rodriguez not beat her to it I guess. She's dead, right?"

"Correct. Her cause of death was exsanguination and hypothermia. So in reality both Dalton and Rodriguez are responsible."

Rewind.

"And the crazy bitch said 'tell him yourself' and she yanked the knife Rodriguez left in her side and fuckin stabbed him in the throat with it!"

Rewind.

"And the crazy bitch said 'tell him yourself'—"

Fast Forward.

"We didn't know what else that girl was gonna do."

His lips pulled into a smirk and the teardrop travelling down his face dripped off of his upper lip.


End file.
